The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has expressed outrage over the refusal of 15 government agencies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), to respond to audit queries raised against them in the 2019 audit report.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ahmed Aliyu, on Tuesday, disclosed that despite repeated invitations, the agencies failed to defend themselves against the queries, prompting the committee to resolve that any further refusal would lead to the adoption of the auditor’s position and reporting to the Senate plenary.
The affected agencies, which also include the Nigeria Police Force, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment, among others, have been accused of frustrating the committee’s efforts to ensure accountability and transparency.
The committee’s rules of engagement require agencies to respond to audit queries in writing and attend public hearings to address questions arising from their submissions. However, the agencies’ persistent refusal to comply has led to the committee’s threat of consequences.
He said: “It is worthy to state that the committee commenced the consideration of the audit report in October, 2023, with a view to presenting its report to plenary.
“However, some agencies have wilfully failed to honour invitations to defend their written responses to the audit queries as submitted to the committee secretariat.
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“Beside the demand for submission of written responses to audit queries, part of the committee’s rules of engagement requires that accounting officers attend the committee’s public hearing to respond to questions arising from the analysis of their submissions which in turn, forms a basis for informed decision on the matter by the committee.
“The committee is very displeased with the attitude of foot-dragging by agencies, who are by law, expected to respond to parliamentary invitations and account for their actions.
“The committee has over time, extended invitations to those agencies, providing them ample opportunities to defend their queries but for reasons best known to them, these agencies have chosen to disregard invitations.
“It is on this note that we as a committee, have resolved that going forward, the Senate public accounts committee will go ahead to consider their audit queries as contained in the auditor-general’s annual report and any MDA that, henceforth, fails to honour invitations to respond and present its defense, the committee will adopt the position of the auditor.
“Also, this resolution would be added to our rules of engagement if MDAs fail to improve on their attendance to our invitations.”
This development highlights the ongoing struggle for accountability in Nigeria’s public sector, with the Senate committee determined to ensure that government agencies are held responsible for their actions.
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