Audit queries may stall funds for ministries
From John-Abba Ogbodo,
Abuja
IF a recommendation by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts is adopted, ministries and parastatals with audit queries may soon begin to suffer financial starvation.
In a report submitted to the leadership of the House, the committee said that in view of the enormity of waste and corruption in government establishments, withholding of allocations to them on the ground of audit queries would make them sit up.
The report reads in part: "Funds should not be released by the Accountant-General to ministries or agencies which fail to answer Auditor-General's queries on the previous year's accounts of their organisations until they have successfully done so."
Worried by the discovery of colossal waste and corruption in the ministries and parastatals, it was recommended that extant financial regulations of those agencies, especially those that are in conflict with the 1999 Constitution should be urgently reviewed.
"The establishing laws of parastatals and corporations which are in conflict with the Nigerian constitution, particularly the provisions that enable them to generate revenue and spend such funds outside the national budget, should be reviewed to bring all government expenditures into the national budget," the report further recommended.
The committee also said that in order to stop proliferation of abandoned or uncompleted projects, government should ensure that funds are released on time to executive approved projects.
"Relevant anti-corruption laws should be invoked for diversion or misappropriation of funds meant for specific projects," the panel recommended.
It called for independence of the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation as obtained in other countries, saying it would enhance its performance.
On contract failures, the committee said: "There should be stiffer sanction for such actions in the award of contracts, particularly, disregard for the approved mark-up margin and allowed percentage of mobilisation for contracts."
The committee pointed out that agencies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Education Tax Fund (ETF) are generating revenue far below their capacities.
They also expressed displeasure over the expenditure profiles of the agencies.
The ministries and parastatals that have so far appeared before the committee to answer the audit queries included the Nigeria Customs Service (94 queries), National Assembly (42 queries), Federal Inland Revenue Service (256), Ministry of Agriculture (62) and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (two queries).
Others are Ministry of Defence (44 queries), Ministry of Health and Human Services (147), Ministry of Power and Steel (79), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Aviation (32), Water Resources (70) and Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (92).
The following parastatals and agencies have also appeared before the panel: Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC), National Insurance Commission of Nigeria (NICON), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL), Education Tax Fund (ETF) and the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA).
A total of 999 queries have so far been treated by the committee.
