Abuja: The Senate has expressed concern over persistent failure of some critical revenue generating agencies to respond to expenditure queries raised by Office of Auditor-General for the Federation, (OAGF). It also vowed to report and recommend sack of the chief executives of such agencies to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appropriate action.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Sen. Aliyu Wadada, disclosed this during a news conference in Abuja. He emphasized the necessity for these agencies to account for the funds appropriated by the National Assembly, in accordance with legislative provisions that empower the parliament to carry out oversight responsibilities. Wadada noted that the auditor-general’s report submitted to the committee had raised significant queries regarding the expenditure of several agencies.
He identified some of the agencies that have failed to appear before the committee to address the audit queries, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), among others. The lawmaker stated that the Senate intends to report the heads of these agencies to the president after offering them another chance to address the queries.
Wadada highlighted the challenges faced in engaging with the Nigeria Customs Service to clarify these issues. He stressed the importance of transparency for Nigerians concerning the ‘ways and means’ under which the Central Bank of Nigeria debited and credited accounts, impacting the consolidated revenue funds account and the treasury single account, amounting to over N30 trillion. He pointed out discrepancies in how interest charges were applied to these accounts, leading to an accumulation of over N6 trillion.
He further mentioned ongoing correspondences between the committee, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and the Debt Management Office (DMO) regarding faulty documents that the agencies have been evasive in addressing. Wadada indicated that the auditor-general’s report querying these agencies spans from 2019 to the present.
Additionally, he alleged that Nigeria Satellite Communications Limited had been invited approximately nine times without appearing, and that the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority were also among those failing to comply.