There are strong indications that the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (oAGF) may have uncovered another financial scandal in the implementation of the Integrated Payroll Payment System (IPPIS).
Samuel Ukura, auditor-general of the Federation (AGF) who briefed the House Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Ibrahim Baba on the activities of the oAGF over the past two years, disclosed that the oAGF has concluded its audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigeria Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The IPPIS, which was adopted by the Federal Government used for the disbursement of salaries of various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), when released would be of public interest.
Ukura stated this while responding to questions on the achievements recorded by the office of AGF over the past two years, as requested by members of the House Committee on Public Accounts, who lamented that the office of the Auditor General of the Federation as presently funded is ill-equipped to fight corruption.
Ukura also informed the committee that the investigation conducted into the misappropriation of pension funds by the National Assembly was based on the audit report submitted to the National Assembly.
“We have done the audit of the IPPIS that we have submitted to the National Assembly. We did the audit of NNPC and NDDC, and of course the audit of the IPPIS, that will be another interesting report to the members of the House,” Ukura told the Committee, without giving further details.
He also assured that his office has commenced training of staff on the IPSAS Accrual-based accounting aimed at curbing corruption, revamp the accounting and reporting of governments’ financial transactions and deepen transparency in the management of public funds.
Ibrahim Baba, acting Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, stated this during the overview of the 2015 budget defence and consideration of the N2,996,054,797 proposed in 2016 budget proposal submitted to the House.
Baba who stressed the need to empower the oAGF as a major player in the fight against corruption, expressed disgust over the failure of the office of the accountant-general of the Federation to release the appropriated funds for the previous year.
“I must confess that the office of the Auditor General which is the frontline agency set to tackle corruption is now ill-equipped. My call is to all lovers of democracy and the anti-corruption drive to rise and join hands with us to ensure that the office of the Auditor General functions optimally, it is for the good of all.
“In an economy with dwindling income as ours, the firm control of the expenditure profile is needed to ensure value for money and stem corruption in the utilisation of public fund.
“I have been privileged to go through the budget proposals for the Auditor General for the year 2016, I can say without contradiction that the essential components of the budget proposal would need to be reconsidered if the fight against corruption is to succeed,” Baba noted.
While speaking, members of the committee including Kehinde Odeneye (APC-Ogun), Ossai Ossai (PDP-Delta) and Wole Oke (PDP-Osun), stressed the need to streghten the oAGF by granting it first line charge.
The lawmakers also queried the rationale behind the reduction in the overhead budget from N3.41 billion to N648 million in 2015.
While stressing the need to address the funding challenges in the 2016 budget, the lawmakers queried the rationale behind huge funding given to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ICPC and Department of Security Service who perform ancillary duties of the office of the Auditor General.
The committee said they will need more from the office of the Auditor General in terms of auditing government projects.
A breakdown of the 2016 budget proposal estimates as presented by the Auditor General, Samuel Ukura showed that N654 million will be used for overhead, N2.5 billion will be used for recurrent and N450 million will be used for Capital. The total sum requested is N2.9 billion.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA
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