News

Reps Unearth Possible Refunds As MDAs Exceed Budget By N284.3bn

Published

9 months ago

Feb 17, 2024.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee is poised to investigate 256 Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) suspected of exceeding their overhead budgetary allocations in 2020, accumulating a total of N284.3 billion.

EDITOR’S PICKS

Full List Of AFCON Awards As Ekong Wins Player Of The Tournament
REVEALED! How Model Of Aircraft Carrying Wigwe, Wife, Son Crashed Multiple Times In 2023
Tinubu Meets Tijaniyya Leader, Khalifa Muhammad Mahe Niass In Aso Rock (Photos)

The committee, led by Bamidele Salam, reached this decision during an interaction in Abuja on Friday with the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, and the Auditor General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira.

The investigation was prompted by the Auditor General’s report on over 800 MDAs for the year ending December 31, 2020.

“If the allegations of budgetary overspending are established, as contained in the Auditor General’s report, it would amount to a gross infraction that may require a refund,” remarked Salam during the event.

Mrs. Madein explained that MDAs often access funds from the service wide vote for extra-budgetary provisions.

She clarified that when MDAs access funds from the SWV, it does not reflect in their budget, and these extra-budgetary spending instances usually stem from activities not included in the initial budget.

“They then move to the Ministry of Finance or even up to the presidency to approve access to such funds,” she added.

Members of the Committee expressed discontent, arguing that funds accessed from the SWV or any source outside the budgetary allocation should first be appropriated by Parliament before disbursement.

Salam urged the executive arm of the government to expedite the full compilation of assets belonging to the Federal Government to facilitate potential foreign investment.

In response to a question about the effects of late submission of Audited Reports by MDAs, Chira faulted the practice.

He advised the concerned MDAs to perfect their acts in ensuring timely preparation and presentation of audited reports, emphasizing that an up-to-date audited report reflects a nation’s financial discipline and readiness for global business.

The Auditor General’s report, titled “Highlights of The Auditor General For The Federation Annual Report For The Year Ended 31ST December 2020,” revealed 23 cross-cutting issues.

Reacting to the Auditor General’s report, the Accountant General of the Federation stated, “The report on the consolidated financial statement of the 2020 audit report has just been presented, and various issues have been identified in the financial statement as prepared and presented.”

He acknowledged that the issues revolved around non-compliance with standards governing the preparation of financial statements, and some were related to the MDAs’ reports submitted and consolidated.

The Accountant General further noted that the adoption of the International Public Accounting Standards, initially done in 2016, experienced slowdowns in implementation due to various issues.

“When I read about the negative net asset aspect of the report, the way I understand it is that in this report, we have our negative net asset as N33.3tn while the total asset is N10.1tn and total liabilities are N43.4tn. This is what resulted in the negative net asset of N33.3tn,” he explained.