Unaudited accounts: Reps summon former NPA boss, other Heads of MDAs

The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned a former Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Mr Habib Abdullahi and Director of Finance and Accounts of the agency to appear before it within seven days over their unaudited account of the agency for four years consecutively.

Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Wole Oke gave the ruling at the resumed investigative hearing on the failure of the over 300 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to render audited accounts to the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation as required of them by the laws since 2014 to date.

Other former and current Heads of the MDAs summoned to appear before the Committee for unaudited accounts are immediate past Director-General (DG) Solid Mineral Development Fund SMDF, Mr Mahi Shehu Ahmed and his counterpart at the National Teachers Institute Kaduna Dr. Aminu Ladan Salihu, two former Director, Federal of the Nigerian French Language Village, Badagry Lagos, a former Director of Finance and Account of Center for Citizenship, Mr Henry Akincbola and Leadership Training, Abuja and other officers of the agency.

The Committee which quizzed the Managing Director of the NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the MDAs government agencies over their inability to render their audited accounts to the Auditor-General’s office as and when due threatened the officials concerned to be ready to refund to the Federal Government all salaries and allowances paid to them while in office since they had failed woefully to perform their official responsibilities.

However, the NPA boss said that the Agency had submitted its last audited accounts up to 2016 and only awaiting the Board’s approval for the 2017 and 2018 audit reports to be submitted to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

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She, however, said the Board of the Agency was dissolved and while the new one would be inaugurated before the end of this week after which the report would be presented for the Board’s consideration.

However, the committee frowned at the delay in the submission of the report and the signing of the previous years’ audit report by the agency and consequently placed it under status enquiry for a thorough investigation.

The Committee also gave the NPA boss a seven-day ultimatum within which to submit the audited accounts of the Agency to the new Board on inauguration for approval and for eventual rendition to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

In the case of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, the Committee directed both its Director-General and Bursar to refund all salaries and benefits collected to the federal government for their failure in their official responsibilities while the DG of the Solid Mineral Development Funds was given a 7-day ultimatum to render its financial accounts to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE