FG, NASS, keep the damning Auditor General’s report in mind

THERE  is no better time than now when the executive is proposing the 2020 budget to the National Assembly to reflect on the recent report by the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine, lamenting the gross violation of statutory financial reporting obligations by government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)  and the presidency. In that report, Ayine had said: “Most of the government corporations, companies and commissions have not submitted their audited accounts for 2016 to me. Only 51 audited financial statements for 2016, and 149 for 2015, had been submitted to my office as of December 27, 2017, despite the provision of Financial Regulation 3210(v) which enjoins these bodies to submit both audited accounts and management report to me not later than May 31 of the following year of account. As of April 2018, 109 agencies have not submitted reports beyond 2013; 76 agencies last submitted for the 2010 financial year, while 65 agencies have never submitted any account since inception.”

A breakdown of the report would show clearly that government agencies have been increasingly more reckless with public finance, with 323 agencies failing to submit reports in 2016, as against 148 in 2014 and 215 in 2015. The State House, Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and 62 other MDAs topped the list of government offices with outstanding personal advances estimated at N4.87 billion as of December 31, 2016. The report further detailed unremitted deductions worth more than N3.79 billion involving over 40 agencies, including the presidency, EFCC and the National Assembly. For instance, N13.96 billion reported as salaries and wages in the EFCC’s consolidated financial statement were not captured in its trial balance submitted for reconciliation. Besides, the EFCC was listed as one of the agencies with “doubtful cash balance” of over N315 million. Others on the list include the House of Representatives (N291.68 million) and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (N343.7 million).

Records at the Federal Ministry of Health showed, contrary to financial regulations on the granting and retirement of advances, several overdue cash advances of N380.9 million outstanding as of October 2016, some of them having been outstanding since 2014. Multiple others were granted without retiring the previous ones. The Ministry of Trade and Investment did not fare better, with 13 payment vouchers of N60.39 million raised for payment of estacode and air tickets for staff being without supporting documents as required by Financial Regulation 603.

Sadly, in the face of the various agencies and the presidency’s failure to enthrone financial  accountability, the government has carried on as if nothing is amiss. It will be recalled that it took sustained outcries by the leadership of the 8th National Assembly to cajole President Muhammadu Buhari into promising to direct the heads of the various MDAs to go and defend their usually outrageous budgets before the relevant committees of the National Assembly. Against this backdrop, it is quite understandable, tragic and unfortunate though it may seem, if they are, as the  Auditor General of the Federation noted, unwilling to render an account of their utilisation of public funds.

In January 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari, accused of encouraging fiscal indiscipline by refusing to assent to sensitive bills on fiscal governance, pointedly declined assent to the Federal Audit Reform Bill passed by the National Assembly, without forwarding any letter to the lawmakers conveying the grounds for the rejection. He also subjected the budget to a three-month hiatus with the delayed  appointment of ministers, who are expected to spearhead its implementation. And despite vowing to return the budget calendar to the January-December cycle, he also rejected the Budget Timeframe Bill passed by the eighth assembly. He has, of course, always blamed delay in budget passage on the National Assembly, even going as far as rating the leadership of the immediate past National Assembly “very low on patriotism.”

It is indeed saddening that widespread financial malfeasance is taking place in a government that claims to be fighting corruption. Pray, how can the various MDAs be financially accountable when the presidency itself has shied away from statutory financial reporting obligations? The Auditor General and the Accountant General of the Federation must liaise with the National Assembly and ensure that those MDAS that have not retired funds are not given new funds. Without this being done, the reckless abandonment of reporting obligations can only continue. Nigerians certainly expect the 9th National Assembly, often widely seen as pliable to executive wishes, to assert its independence by acting on this issue. Crucially, it should lead the way in retiring funds. This is not negotiable. It must act fast, and very decisively too, if it wants to be taken seriously by Nigerians.