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Auditor-General of the Federation names government parastatals and departments that have no audited accounts

Samuel Orkura, auditor- general of the federation, has raised the alarm over the refusal of some federal government agencies and parastatals to submit their audited accounts to his office in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. This, he said, was responsible for the growing cases of sleaze and fiscal indiscipline in the polity.

The auditor-general named the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and its subsidiaries, as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as some of the agencies that have not had their accounts audited since inception.  Others include the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA, and Abuja Environmental Protection Board.

He explained that the revenue generating agencies are the most culpable in this regard and that the country’s treasury might suffer due to the failure of revenue generation agencies to remit what they generated to the federation accounts.

Orkura blamed the National Assembly for not acting on the audited accounts of the federation submitted to it since 1999.   This non- challant attitude of the National Assembly, he said, has given impetus to government agencies to disregard audit queries sent from the Office of the Auditor-General.

“The problem is further compounded by the fact that we have no powers to sanction those agencies that failed to transmit their audited reports to us.” According to him, the federal government ministries, departments and agencies have in the past treated auditors with disdain and in some cases refused to make available their records for scrutiny. “Most of the time, those we audit do not take us seriously; they tell us to our faces that our report won’t change things; that we may go ahead to write whatever report we can write about them but it would not affect them because the National Assembly has not been acting on audit reports. The problem is further compounded by the fact that we have no powers to sanction those agencies that failed to transmit their audit reports to us,” Orkura said.

This is not the first time Orkura will be releasing such a bombshell on sleaze and fiscal indiscipline in the Nigerian ministries and parastatals.  The auditor- general had, during the  submission of  the 2009 Audit Report to the National Assembly late last year, called on the lawmakers to expedite action on the Auditor-General’s Audit Bill of 2007 before it.

While presenting the report to Salisu A. Maikasuwa, clerk of the National Assembly in Abuja, the auditor-general of the federation said that the Bill if passed into law, would guarantee full independence to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation. “The Constitution in section 85 (6) provides for the independence of the Auditor-General.  However, the Bill on Auditor-General’s additional powers of 2007 needs to be passed by the National Assembly to enhance its independence. I humbly implore you to consider the early passage of the Bill,”  he said at the occasion.

He had during the presentation of the audit report solicited for the co-operation of the National Assembly to help facilitate action on the audit report and to pass it in time to the executive for immediate implementation of the recommendations therein.

In his presentation at the meeting, Joseph Oguniyi Otunla, accountant- general of the federation, said his office was working out modalities to compel non-compliant agencies and departments to remit to the federation accounts. He explained that one of the ways was to “withhold allocations to any agency of government that refuses to submit its books for scrutiny.”  According to him, “those agencies being funded by government could be sanctioned for not submitting records of their expenditure because we can simply refuse to release their allocations to them until they comply; but those agencies not funded by government cannot be sanctioned by us at all.”

The House committee, however, queried the auditor -general of the federation and the accountant- general of the federation over the failure of many government agencies and departments to remit generated revenues to the federation accounts. At the meeting, presided by Solomon Adeola, chairman of the committee,  the lawmakers expressed displeasure that the country’s treasury might nosedive over  the failure of revenue generation agencies to remit what they generate into the federation accounts.

The chairman warned that the committee would no longer tolerate such acts of illegality and the seemingly inability of the offices of the auditor- general and the accountant- general  of the federation to live and act above board. “The auditor-general has no excuse for failing to properly audit the accounts of ministries and agencies of government because the constitution has sufficiently empowered him to carry out such responsibilities. If you carry out your duties very well, we may not even have needed to establish all these anti-graft agencies,” he stated.

The committee promised that henceforth, the lower parliament would not watch such acts of illegality and unpatriotic developments without slamming the necessarily sanctions as enshrined in the constitution.

The chairman said that the issue of revenue generation and remittance must be taken very seriously because of the need to make funds available to government treasury for development purposes, particularly at this moment that the 2012 budget was being prepared.

When contacted, Femi Babafemi, head, media and publicity of the EFCC, said “the enabling Act that established the EFCC does not mandate us to render such account to the office in question.” He explained that what the Act mandates the EFCC to do is to render accounts to the Senate Committee on Narcotics, Drug and Crime and its equivalent in the House of Representatives on a yearly basis and they have been so dedicated to it. “Every 30th of September such an account is rendered and we also defend our budget proposals. We are not in any way violating any law.”

Reacting to the development, NNPC insisted that the corporation has an up-to-date audited accounts and refuted claims made by the auditor-general of the federation that the corporation has not audited its account since inception. Levi Ajuonuma, group general manager, group public affairs division of the corporation, described the comment credited to Orkura during his appearance before the House Committee on Public Accounts as ridiculous, unfortunate and a dangerous advertisement of ignorance coming from a person who should know better.

“The statement is totally different from verifiable official documents in the possession of the NNPC, the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation as well as the Public Accounts Committee of both the Senate and House of Representatives. I can confirm without mincing words that the NNPC, as a responsible commercial entity with international connections, has not only audited its accounts but have been sending the detailed financial reports to the Senate, House of Reps and the office of the AGF,’’  Ajuonuma stated.

Betty Abah’s Sound of Broken  Chains Launched

        Augustine  Adah

It was a moment of self fulfillment for Betty Abah, journalist and environmentalist. On October 7, 2011, her collection of poems, Sound of Broken Chains, was launched at Ogba, Lagos. Although Abah encountered a lot of challenges in the writing and publication of her work, her joy knew no bounds to see that the publication of the creative work become a reality. The 102-page, divided into 10 sections is a collection of 46 poems.

Okey Ifionu, former deputy managing director, This Day newspaper, and vicar, Emmanuel Anglican Church, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, reviewed the collection of  poems. He described the work as a good material for those who want to renew their faith and confidence in God. It would also help readers in appreciating the power of God in all situations. The first section of work titled: Peace contains four poems; each of these poems offers the readers the author’s idea of peace.

The second section which is the longest, is titled: Perplexity. In one of the poems, under the title, the author wonders how God can cope with all the petitions that are made to Him by mankind. In the last two sections of the creative work, titled: Passion and Pay Day, the author celebrates her passion for the Lord who has never disappointed her all the time.

 Abah commended Ebele Eko, a professor of English and former head of  Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar and others for their contribution in making the launching of the book a reality.  Her decision to write the collection of poems is informed by her desire to rekindle the hope of Nigerians in the Almighty God despite frustrations and all odd things happening in the country. “In all these, our hope in Nigeria should not be shaken, if we believe, if we listen hard enough as one heeding the footsteps of ants, we can hear the Sound of Broken Chains. There is hope for Nigeria,” she said.