Reps Accuse Accountant General of Negligence Over Remittances by MDAs
By Gloria Essien, Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has frowned at the negligence displayed by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria, over discrepancies in 2021 remittances by government agencies.
This was the position of the committee, following the difference in figures between the representative of the AGF and the Energy Commission of Nigeria among others, at the resumed hearing on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework at the National Assembly.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee Sa’idu Abdullahi, who chaired the event, blamed both Agencies for encouraging gross misappropriation in ministries, departments and agencies of Government.
The Finance Committee while discharging the Agencies present, directed them to reconcile all remittances with the Accountant General’s office, and reappear before the committee with documents relating to every transaction in 2021.
Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, while presenting the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, to the house of Representatives committee on finance projected budget deficit for 2023 to be 11.30 trillion naira
She added that inflation is expected to grow at an average rate of 17.16% in the year under review.
The Chairman house committee on finance, Mr James Faleke, stated that no agency would be allowed to play with the revenue of the country.
Mr Faleke expressed disappointment with the office of the accountant general of the federation for failing to provide details of remittances by revenue generating agencies during the public hearing.
He also directed the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and the fiscal responsibility commission to reconcile their accounts and report back to the house next week.
Agencies that appeared before the committee included the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria FRCN, Federal Roads Safety Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps and the Nigeria Customs Service among others.
Emmanuel Ukoh
