The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives, investigating the alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 intervention funds from 2020 to 2021, announced on Monday that over 3,000 MDAs would be investigated for their failure to submit audited financial accounts to the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation over the years, as required by the law of the land.
The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam, disclosed at the resumed investigative hearing that some agencies have not submitted their audited reports for about ten years, as reported by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
Rep. Salam stated that the Committee had resolved to carry out a thorough investigation to ascertain the MDAs that have defaulted in submitting their audited reports, as provided for by the 1999 constitution as amended.
According to him, Section 85 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), which established the Office of the Auditor General, requires all government agencies to submit their audited accounts to the OAUGF not later than the 31st of May of the preceding year.
“The section also mandates the Auditor General to submit an audited report of all government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to the National Assembly within 90 days of receiving such reports from the MDAs.
He, however, mentioned that the last audited report of the consolidated revenue of the government submitted to the National Assembly was the 2019 audit report, which was submitted in September 2021.
The Committee will also undertake a verification exercise of all government projects across the six geopolitical zones of the country to determine their status and the extent of work carried out on them.
Rep. Salam announced the composition of a committee to investigate the failure of the MDAs to submit their audited accounts, headed by Hon. Zakaria Nyamkpa (PDP-Adamawa), with one member each from the six geopolitical zones.
The zonal verification committees, each with seven members, have been assigned to verify government projects in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country and are expected to work throughout the Christmas holiday. They will report back to the committee in January 2024 when the House resumes from the Christmas break.
He stated that, apart from the COVID-19 projects, the Committees would also verify every project that came under the radar of the Public Accounts Committee from the MDAs within the last two months when the Public Accounts Committee was constituted.
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