How audit indictees bribe lawmakers to mask findings

• As legislators refuses to release audit findings
• NECA tasks the media to insist on FOI under Buhari
• CISLAC urges EFCC, ICPC to investigate members

It was the no-nonsense Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Nigerian President who in November last year during the public presentation of the autobiography of Justice Mustapha Akanbi in Abuja Lampooned members of the National Assembly and described them as ‘largely an assemblage of looters and thieves’.

The Abeokuta farmer who said the legislators has damaged their capacity to oversight the executive, alleged that the lawmakers indulge in extorting money from departments, contractors and ministries in two ways-which he explained to be: during visits to their projects and programmes and in the process of budget approval when they build up budgets for ministries and departments, who agree to give it back to them in contracts that they do not execute.

The fiery Obasanjo maintained at the time that majority of the lawmakers live above the law in both misconduct and corruption and consequently cannot in good conscience carry out oversight duties on any government ministry or department, and lamented that with a largely corrupt legislature, Nigeria was doomed.

But following the lawmakers continual refusal to grant Nigerians access to audit findings submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (AGF) as affirmed in the 1999 constitution, the secrecy surrounding activities of the lawmakers particularly that of the public accounts committee of both chambers, came under stern scrutiny; with anti corruption group now calling on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to beam its searchlight on members of the lawmakers.

A senior official in the Office of the AGF who confided in BD SUNDAY, said the Office usually sends reports to the National Assembly  within six months of the end of the preceding fiscal year and that the damning corruption the Office has uncovered were far reaching in implication compared to what is reported in the media.

 According to the source, after the report is submitted to the National Assembly, the public accounts committee reviews the report, invites indicted officials to defend their actions, then compile a report and submit to the leadership of the Senate or the House of Representatives as the case maybe for deliberation and approval.

“Indicted officials do everything within their power-including bribery to be cleared by the public accounts committees. This is how the lawmakers have entrenched corruption in the land. They only shout foul when their share is either not enough or given anything at all. Nigerians should demand the release of information at the possession of the legislators”, he confidentially told BD SUNDAY.

According to section 85(2) of the constitution, public accounts of the Federation and of all Offices and Courts shall be audited and reported on by the AGF who shall submit his report to the National Assembly; and for that purpose, the AGF or any person authorised by him in that behalf shall have access to all the books, records, returns and other document relating to those accounts.

Section 85(5) explicitly states that the AGF shall within 90 days of receipt of the Accountant-General’s financial statement; submit his report to each House of the National Assembly and each House shall cause the report to be considered by a committee responsible for public accounts.

Speaking with BD SUNDAY on the alleged corruption in the parliament, Olusegun Oshinowo, Director General of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), the umbrella body for private sector in the country, noted that there are a lot number of the outgoing lawmakers in the Assembly who will not be coming back in the next dispensation and that would mean an unpolluted atmosphere.

He said he believes that the incoming lawmakers will open up accountability as far as the National Assembly is concern, and add that Nigerians must understand the National assembly was simply the second arm of government.

“That does not mean it should not be subjectable to accountability and good governance approach and rules. But the issue is that there is an organ of government put in place to see that there is accountability. It is the duty of the executive arm of government to get that organs do its job. Once it has done its job, then, you can insist on the other arm of government making known to the public the outcome of an audit.

“Ordinarily, if the National Assembly could say it might not want to make know to the public the outcome of such audit findings, the appointed arm of government that has that responsibility should be bold enough to make known to the public the outcome of such findings”, he said.

He said the FOI law should be able to get the press to be able to lay hands on some of the audit reports and make noise about it since the law did not create any form of confidential cover for the lawmakers.

“The press, as a matter of law, can demand for the outcome of any audit report. I cannot expect the EFCC to jump on the train. It has to come in base on series of cogent information base on findings. The press should be able to lay its hand on these audit reports and send it to the EFCC. EFCC would have no reason not to act after such information.

“Giving the antecedent of the president-elect (General Muhammadu Buhari), we can say it is a new down in Nigeria. He has done it in time past and I don’t think he has change. I am happy he has the fabric to clean up the system”, he noted.

Intriguingly, Order 13, Rule 97 (5) of the Senate Standing Orders 2007 as amended, states that “There shall be a Committee to be known as Public Accounts Committee appointed at the commencement of the life of the Senate” and that “the jurisdiction of the committee shall include: to examine the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by the Senate to meet the public expenditure; together with the Auditor’s report thereon.

“The Committee shall, for the purposes of discharging that duty, have power to send for any person, papers and records, to report from time to time to the Senate and to sit notwithstanding the adjournment of the Senate; the Committee shall have power to examine any accounts or report of statutory Corporations and Boards after they have been laid on the table for the Senate and to report thereon from time to time to the Senate and to sit notwithstanding the adjournment of the Senate; the Committee shall have power to enquire the report of the Auditor-General of the Federation with respect to any prepayment audit query which had been overruled by the Chief Executive of the Ministry, Extra-Ministerial Departments or Agency of the Federal Government and Courts of the Federation and to report same to the Senate”.

Similarly, Order 17 Rule (A.6.) of the House Standing Orders states: “There shall be a Committee to be known as the Public Accounts Committee consisting of not more than 40 members appointed at the commencement of the life of the House; the Committee’s jurisdiction shall include: to examine the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by the House to meet the Public expenditure, together with the auditor’s reports thereon; have power to summon persons, summon papers and records, and report its findings and recommendations to the House from time to time.

“The Auditor-General shall bring to the attention of the Committee any pre-payment audit queries raised by the Internal Auditors of a Ministry, Department or Agency but over ruled by the Chief Executive; the Public Accounts Committee shall have the power to examine any accounts or reports of statutory corporations and Board after they have been laid on the table of the House and to report thereon from time to time to the House”.

The parliamentary Orders, according to Robert Ekule, a Lagos based legal practitioner, gave exclusive powers that the constitution took from the AFG to audit the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and others to the lawmakers, and may also be responsible for the non-passage of the audit Bill since the lawmakers are major beneficiaries of its non-passage.

 Oluseun Onigbinde, Co-Founder, BudgIT & Knight International Innovation Fellow (KIIF), who frowns that the public accounts committee of the National Assembly had yet to lived to its function by making audit reports dusty on its shelf, said in the spirit of change and renewed vigour, it was time for Nigerians to demand that audit reports should be published and the recommendations seriously adhered to.

“BudgIT will be in the forefront of this and we will keep demanding. I believe the National Assembly has been sloppy in handling audit reports forwarded to it for action as dictated by the law. There are concerns of corruption as regards indicted officials who have found a way to avoid investigative hearing of the National Assembly”, he told BD SUNDAY.

BudgIT Nigeria and the Public and Private Development Centre had on March 17 2015 in accordance with the FOI Act 2011, written to the chairman Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, requesting for the audit report of Federal Government accounts for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 financial years.

The letter was a follow-up to an earlier FOI request to the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (AGF) in which the AGF instructed the organisations to direct the letter to the National Assembly and explained that his office was not constitutionally empowered to release documents containing audit findings.

But rather than oblige the organisations, the Committee said the issuance of the annual report of the AGF was not part of the functions of the Senate committee on public accounts.

In a letter to the organisations with reference number NASS/S/PAC/NGO/11-15/15/1, dated March 18, 2015, and signed by the committee’s Clerk A.E Abdullahi on behalf of the chairman, obtained by BD SUNDAY, he wrote that the committee regrets the inability to furnish the said reports; and asked the organisations to accept the assurances of the committee’s highest regards, without stating who exactly is empowered to release audited documents of FG’s accounts.

But the Senate Committee on Public Accounts later told BD SUNDAY through its Clerk that Nigerians should hold the leadership of the National Assembly accountable for the non-release of audit report findings, insisting that members of the committee cannot release any audit finding without the authorization of the leadership of the House.

According to Abdullahi, it was directionless for any group or individual to direct a letter from the AGF seeking information to the committee, and that the committee do not constitute the National Assembly as stipulated in the constitution.

“The committee of the National Assembly can never be National Assembly. All the members of the committee are politicians. There is no way you will be able to speak with any of them now. The constitution directs those seeking information from the AGF’s office to the National Assembly. The committee has its specific assignment and has its own limitation on this issue. Those seeking information are supposed to write to the Speaker of the House or the Senate President. Unlike other parliaments, the committees in the Nigerian National Assembly have no power on its own except the power given to it by a house appointing it. Whatever assignment given to it is return to the Senate once completed. The Committee do not have power to do anything”, he said.

The Committee’s Clerk who also lambasted the Office of the AGF for its parts in the complicity, said: “Somebody produces a report and he is saying you go to this and that. Once you produce a report who publishes that report? I believe that the Office of the AGF who is the author of a book is in the best position to give information related to the book. How can an author of a book be asking you to go to another place for information of the same book? It cannot be true. The officials should be bold enough to say this is what happened”.

He disclosed that the public accounts committee indeed has up to three to four audit reports which it has forwarded to the leadership of the Senate, a revelation which also tallies with the information that a senior official in the office of the AGF gave to BD SUNDAY that the Office had traditionally submitted damning audit findings to the lawmakers.

As at the time of filling in this report, the Offices of both the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives had yet to respond to email enquiries bordering on the subject.

But Auwal Ibrahim Musa, Acting General Secretary, West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF), & Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), told BD SUNDAY that EFCC and ICPC as constitutionally established investigatory and prosecuting government agencies on financial crimes and corruption should carryout thorough investigation into the matter and prosecute the perpetrators accordingly.

According to him, non-disclosure or denial of citizenry access to public accounts by members of the National Assembly for personal gain or whatsoever reason was unconstitutional and that it would be an unwelcomed development to the nation’s democracy.

He said: “We understand that Section 85(2-3) of the 1999 constitution empowers Auditor-General for the Federation to audit and report to the National Assembly, public accounts and Offices and Courts of the federation. It is disheartening as such irregularity is identified in our legislative chamber, which is expected to represent and legislate for the best interest of citizens. We find it worrisome that matter of public important is covered-up by National Assembly primarily for pocket gain, which could sabotage the interest of the nation. National Assembly, which should be the top level nation’s accountability mechanism, swims in pool of corrupt practices arising from non-disclosure of public information”.

The CISLAC boss who describes the FOI Act signed into law on May 28, 2011 as a comprehensive Act that gives every Nigerian a legal right of access to information, records, and documents held by government bodies and private bodies carrying out public functions, and explained that the Act also applies to all arms of government including the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary as well as to all tiers of government—Federal, State, and Local governments.

“Given these, National Assembly would be disregarding the law, and this could cause damage to our nation’s democracy. It is on this note that we urge upcoming National Assembly to ensure total transparency, accountability and public disclosure in management of public accounts”, he said.

With over N20 billion allocated to the Office of the AGF in the last seven financial years with a constitutional mandate to audit accounts of the FG and submit same to the National Assembly, taxpayers are yet witness the impact of the huge investment as corruption is still highly perceived in government circles.