The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has expressed concern at the low implementation of the capital component of the 2024 budget.
They expressed their displeasure during an interactive engagement between the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr Mrs Shakirat Madein, and members of the Committee, in Abuja.
The Committee, led by Mr. Bamidele Salam, said that it was worried as the Accountant General put the level of implementation of the budget at 25 percent.
It observed that this was not helping the attainment of desired economic growth.
This was as the Committee charged Dr. Madein on the need to submit the 2022 Consolidated financial statement of the Federal Government to the Auditor General of the Federation in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution.
Mr. Salam said it was regrettable that from recent studies conducted in Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda, Nigeria is still lagging behind in submission and consideration of audit reports largely due to the non submission of Financial statement by the Accountant Generals office as required by law.
While considering the submissions of the Accountant General on the low revenue remittances by many Government Owned Enterprises, the PAC Chairman said there was a need for stricter measures to block revenue leakages through automation of processes and regular audit exercises.
The House Committee also asked the Accountant General, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior to immediately resolve all outstanding issues on the non automation of revenue collections from Foreign missions in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the process.
The committee Chairman disclosed that the 2021 Auditor Generals report which was recently submitted to the National Assembly will receive accelerated consideration immediately after the passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill currently before the House.
Earlier in her speech, the Accountant General of the Federation attributed the delay in the submission of the consolidated financial statement to lack of sufficient data of government revenue from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
While assuring that efforts are at advanced stage to get the CBN to submit necessary information, the Accountant General gave an undertaking to conclude the exercise within two months.
Dr Madein informed the committee of several initiatives of her office to strengthen existing regulations and initiate new ones to promote greater accountability in public expenditure management.
She assured the committee that the Financial Regulations 2009 has been reviewed and only awaiting the approval of the Federal Executive Council to be operational.
Olusola Akintonde
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