The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has threatened to sanction any agency which fails to submit annual accounts and audited accounts to the Auditor General of the Federation.
Addressing newsmen, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of some government agencies that are not complying with the law on submission of annual accounts and audited report to Auditor General of the Federation.
Urhoghide vowed to undertake the review of the collections and remittances of revenue into the Federation Account by the revenue generating agencies.
The Committee also promised to publish names of agencies that fail to submit their reports and recommend to the Senate to suspend approval of the budget of the defaulting agencies until they comply.
He said: “Information from the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation shows that all Federal Government’s statutory Corporation, Commission, Authorities and Agencies are not up-to-date with the submission of their annual accounts and audited report to the Auditor General of the Federation as specified by section 85(3) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“They have therefore violated the provisions of section 85(3) of the constitution.”
Urhoghide assured that the operations of the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation are backed with modern and well articulated legislation.
He said: “Efforts are ongoing to conclude legislative work on the bill, including public hearing, to obtain input and also organise a retreat to fine-tune the bill.
“The committee is quite aware of the daunting challenges facing the office and will ensure that this bill is given the desired attention for it to be passed.”
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