The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts has recommended the arrest and prosecution of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, the Chief Accounting Officers of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited and 52 Ministries, Departments and Agencies for flagrant violation of extant financial regulations and the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission are among the 53 MDAs involved in the breach of the constitution.
Chairman, House Committee on Public accounts, Hon. Oluwole Oke, presented the report titled ‘Deliberate and reckless refusal by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government to render Audited Accounts for the periods 2014–2018 and 2019–2021 to the Auditor–General for the Federation’, to the House for consideration on Thursday.
The committee in its findings in the first batch of its investigations covering 2014 to 2018, noted that some MDAs complained that the procurement process of hiring external auditors was cumbersome, and gave that as the reason for operating without being audited.
The committee also observed strongly that “many agencies often violate the Appropriation Act by deliberately subjecting their internally generated revenue to some committees (of the National Assembly) directly overseeing them for approval and expend same illegally without Mr. President’s assent.”
As a fallout of this, the Committee recommended that EFCC should prosecute former and present Vice Chancellors, former Bursars of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta for non-rendition of 2012-2018 audited accounts.
Similar recommendations were made to the anti-graft agency to prosecute Vice Chancellor and Bursar of Federal University of Technology Owerri for delay in rendition of 2011 – 2014 and for non-rendition of 2016 – 2018.
The committee also recommended that former and present Vice Chancellors and Bursars, should be sanctioned and handed over to EFCC for non-rendition of 2012-2018 audited accounts.
Also recommended was that the Managing Director and Director of Finance & Admin of Nigeria Communication Satellite (NigComSat) be sanctioned and handed over to the EFCC for non-rendition of 2014 – 2016 audited accounts.
The committee called on the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; the Accountant General of the Federation; and Auditor-General for the Federation to jointly issue a government circular specifying strong sanctions against agencies violating Financial Regulation 3010 for the 2019 -2021 financial years.
The Committee observed “many agencies often violate the Appropriation Act by deliberately subjecting their internally generated revenue to some committees (of the National Assembly) directly overseeing them for approval and expend same illegally without Mr. President’s assent.”
The Committee’s Chairman stated that the affected public office holders in breach of the constitution should be issued with the warrant of arrest to respond to the issue within a week in line with section 89(d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),
The agencies whose accounting officers and DFAs are affected are Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); Security and Exchange Commission (SEC); Petroleum Equalization Management Board (PEMB); National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF); Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN); Federal Housing Authority (FHA); Nigeria Integrated Water Resources (NIWA); Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC); National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); Abuja Investment Company (AIC); Administrative Staff College, Badagry, Lagos State; Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN); Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency; University of Jos; University of Ilorin; Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia; Federal University of Technology, Akure; Federal University, Gusau; Husseini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Kazaure; Federal College of Education, Asaba; Federal College of Education, Obudu; University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Federal Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti; Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja; National Medical Research, Lagos; Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State; National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research, Idu, Abuja; among others.
