The Fiscal Responsibility Commission in Abuja on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with the Bureau of Public Enterprises for not auditing its financial account from 2010 till date.
The FRC Acting Chairman, Victor Muruako, made this known at a meeting with the BPE management following alleged violations of some sections of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The issue of BPE unaudited accounts for the period were discovered when FRC was investigating the bureau for not remitting operating surplus from companies’ privatisation proceeds.
Muruako said that unaudited accounts of BPE would impede ongoing investigation on its revenue remittances to the nation’s treasury from its operations.
He said: “BPE has to provide its financial statements, which it hasn’t done for whatever reasons.
“Unfortunately, its representative is giving the excuse that they are not the only agency that has not done so.
“It is rather shameful for him to give the excuse that they should not be penalised since there are other government agencies that have not done so in 11 years.
“MDAs are expected to make their audited accounts available to relevant agencies as well as the National Assembly after each financial year.
“It is not a good practice anywhere not to audit accounts in years.
“We condemn any agency that does such.
“I do not know the financial system that allows you to operate for five years without an audited financial statement.”
Muruako described as “lame” the excuse given by BPE for not having an audited financial account since 2010.
He added: “You attributed the reason for BPE not auditing accounts to the fact that the bureau has changed management five times since 2007.
“Let me tell you that it is not the only agency with such experience.
“NIMASA also does and I can tell you that the Director-General of NIMASA was here some time ago and he promised and delivered on payments the agency failed to make earlier.
“Also, the issue of the National Council of Privatisation being too busy to approve the accounts of the BPE is not an excuse.
“They have a director-general and a director of finance whose part of their responsibility it is to approve and sign such.
“So, NCP is a different issue altogether and the vice president should be kept out of this.”
Muruako also said that BPE had failed to remit to the Consolidated Revenue Fund the N81 million operating surplus, which it admitted in November 2013 that it owed the Federation.
He cautioned BPE against continuous contraventions of FRC Act, saying: “If this continues, we will have no choice but to report the BPE to the Attorney General of the Federation for prosecution.”
At the meeting, the Head of Central Accounts of the BPE, Sanusi Ali, had explained that proceeds from the sales of government property were internally generated revenue for the bureau.
Ali said: “This is all a misunderstanding.
“We have not been remitting operating surplus because we do not make anything from the privatisation processes we carry out.
“We remit 100 per cent of whatever we make to the Federal Government and in return, the government provides us with sufficient funds to run the exercises.
“The only other fund is the unspent balance for the year, which the accountants from the Accountant General’s Office come to mop up at the end of each year.
“On the N81 million FRC insists that we owe, the amount has been registered in our books as a liability and we intend to pay in due time.”
Ali said that frequent change of the management of the Bureau was part of the reasons for the delay in paying the money into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The FRC adjourned the hearing to till the end of the month to enable the Director-General of the BPE, Benjamin Dikki, appear in person to react to some of the allegations.
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