65 government agencies have never been audited, says Rep panel

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Account has disclosed that 65 agencies of government have never been audited since they were established.

This was disclosed on Monday by the chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke at an event in Lagos.

The standing orders of the lower chamber empower the committee to examine the accounts of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to ascertain the utilisation of funds appropriated by the house.

Speaking at the event, Oluwole Oke who was represented by Abdullahi Abdulkadir, deputy chairman of the committee, said 12 MDAs were not audited from 1993 to 2010, while 65 agencies have never been audited.

“The 2016 report of the OAuGF threw up quite a number of intractable issues which then required very careful scrutiny even with the previous years’ reports,” Oke said.

“Prominent among these issues was the refusal by ministries, departments and agencies of government to render accounts of stewardship, and in many cases, these accounts were rendered very late.

“In addition to the above, 12 MDAs have never been audited from 1993 to 2010, and 65 agencies have never been audited since they were created. This situation gave rise to the well-publicised and just concluded public hearing on this subject matter to which all of you were witnesses.

“A number of agencies were found wanting in terms of rendition of audited accounts to the auditor general of the federation. Constitutionally, for ministries, departments and agencies, the auditor general of the federation work on their accounts”.

The committee chairman assured that the names of the agencies will be made public after the green chamber conclude investigation on it.

“Sixty-five agencies have never been audited before. This is an issue that is still before the national assembly. The names of the agencies will be made known to the public after or when the house starts to consider it,” he said.

“The contemporary rules we have, especially concerning financial regulations, specify certain penalties to these agencies.

The lawmaker said the country cannot make “meaningful progress” if MDAs do not change their “mindset with respect to audit issues raised by the OAuGF.”