Reps tackle TCN over 4 years unaudited accounts, breach of financial regulations

The House of Representatives on Thursday expressed concern over the flagrant breach of the extant financial regulations by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for failing to render account between 2013 and 2016.

Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Oluwole Oke, who spoke during an investigative hearing into outstanding audit queries issued to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAGF), expressed displeasure over the level of impunity being perpetrated by the accounting officers.

While reacting to the TCN presentation, Hon. Oke noted that, “Pursuant to the provisions of the Company Income Tax Act, assuming you a private company the law expects you to render account six months after your accounting date.

“So if you started operation in 2013, as a good treasurer and Accountant you know you have to comply with the Constitution.

“Why did you have to wait till 2017 to engage External Auditor to audit 2013, 2014, 2015? That is my question.

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“You intentionally disobeyed the provisions of the Constitution by not engaging external Auditor as at when due and by not rendering account as at when due. It’s not about being sorry. Mr President might not be aware of this,” Hon. Oke observed.

Executive Director (Finance), Mr Ahmed Isah-Dutse, who explained that TCN which came to being in October 2013 after the privatisation, engaged PWC as external Auditor.

He disclosed that TCN formally engaged PWC in 2017 as external Auditor to cover unaudited accounts since 2014, saying, “We gave them one letter to cover the period (2014) in 2017.”

Isah-Dutse, who has been working on acting capacity as EDL since 2018, however, apologized on behalf of the past management for failing to audit the company’s accounts as at when due.

He, however, blamed PWC for failing to make available sufficient copies of the 2014 – 2016 audited accounts which ought to be transmitted to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

To this end, the Chairman mandated PWC to provide all the original copies of the audit report to enable TCN to forward to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE