Nigeria Senate raises alarm over unremitted N2trn from MDAs

The Senate has uncovered over N2trn unremitted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.
This unremitted amount was raised by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts led by Senator Mathew Oroghide who represents Edo South.
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In a statement read to newsmen after Wednesday’s plenary session, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee told newsmen that information from the office of the Auditor General for the Federation shows that all Federal Governments statutory corporations, commissions, authorities and agencies are not up to date with the submission of their annual accounts and remittances.
The Mathew Oroghide-led committee has also threatened that his committee will soon commence the publication of defaulting agencies names using the mass media. His words “Information from the office of the Auditor General for the Federation shows that all Federal Governments statutory Corporations, Commissions, Authorities and Agencies are not up-to- date with the submission of their annual accounts and audited reports to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation as specified by section 85 (3) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”
“They have therefore violated the provisions of Section 85 (3) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” The Committee in lieu of the foregoing has threatened to carry out several actions including suspending approval of the budget of defaulting agencies until they comply.
“This committee will ensure that all parastatals comply with the constitutional provision of submission of their annual reports and audited accounts to the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation promptly”.
“In fact the Committee has concluded plans to publish their names in the mass media from now on and met out appropriate sanctions to the defaulters. The Committee will further recommend to the Senate to suspend approval of the budget of the defaulting agencies until they comply”
To demonstrate the commitment of the Red Chamber to ensuring that revenue are promptly remitted by MDA’s, the Public Accounts Committee according to Senator Oroghide is working towards passing necessary bills to strengthen the constitutional powers of the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
“Efforts are on to conclude legislative work and give speedy consideration and passage to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill referred to it by the Senate for further legislative action”,
“Efforts are ongoing to conclude legislative work on the bill including conducting a public hearing to obtain inputs and also organize a retreat to fine-tune the Bill. The Committee is quite aware of the daunting challenges facing the Office and will ensure that this bill is given the needed attention”.

“The Intention of the committee is to conclude work on the Bill before the end of December this year”.
“Currently, the law governing the Office is the Audit Ordinance Act 1958, a law obviously
overdue for review”