The
Worried by the response provided by the
Breakdown of the extra-budgetary expenditure are N54 billion borrowed fund for a staff of PHCN in 2014 and N745.4 billion payment allegedly approved by President
It also includes the sum of N73.5 billion paid in 2014, out of which N36.4 billion was released to the National Security Adviser (NSA) for rehabilitation and construction of the dam; N31.3 billion paid to an account which a political appointee was a signatory and additional sum of N2.8 billion paid for the purchase of hand sanitizers.
Similarly, the Auditor General queried the Accountant general's office over the sum of N200.9 billion deducted from Federal Government's share of the Federation Account, out of the total sum of N797.9 billion reported in the 2014 financial statement, showing the variance of N52.7 billion.
In his response to various audit queries issued by the Auditor General of the Federation in 2014 financial year, Mr
Also, the House said it was not satisfied by the explanation of the Accountant General that the closing balance that was not returned to the
He said: 'For example, I know that when the issue ASUU occurred in the past and the government wanted to pay the outstanding allowances, they went and borrowed money from TETFUND.
'I am not saying the N54 billion was borrowed from Pension money. But I want to assure the parliament that we will provide the source of that money and other information required from us.'
The Accountant General who explained that the 2014 financial closing balance was not remitted to the
'That money does not belong to the federal government and that is why it was not remitted to the CRF so that we will not run into trouble when it is time to pay.'
While responding to the allegation bothering on financial sabotage, the Accountant general explained that: 'We are for the Federation and cannot sabotage the Federation. We are doing our best to ensure things are done normally.'
He also said that the delay in getting a transcript of accounts from various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) occasioned by the attitude of staff from the MDAs or outright lack of capacity was also partly responsible for the delay in preparing government's annual statement of accounts.
'If there is no rendition of account from the MDAs, there is no way the account can be prepared. Sometimes, we threaten to withhold allocation to them before they send in their transcript and sometimes, we have to send our staff to assist them. But going forward, we are deploying ICT which will now be used,' he argued.
He, however, explained that his office was working on a draft law that will amend the existing law stating the specific period for the submission of annual financial statement to the Auditor General, adding that the draft law will soon be submitted to the
He argued that the approval for the release of the N745 billion was for 23 special accounts, adding 'there was no specific request for approvals.'
He also explained that that the
While ruling, the Committee resolved to summon the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS),
© Pakistan Press International, source