Some Senators, on Thursday, slamed the Presidency and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, for violating the constitution and other laws of the nation by not submitting their audited reports to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF).
Senators’ allegation was made by the Chairman, Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), Mathew Urhogide, while briefing newsmen alongside three other lawmakers and the AGF, Mr. Anthony Ayine Urhoghide, said the violation had been going on over the past 10 years.
Urhoghide also posited that the office of the AGF was designed to fail by government through insufficient funding of the agency.
He further lamented how agencies of government would stay for 15 years without having their accounts audited, saying that funds released were supposed to be checked and audited.
He said the office of the AGF was supposed to be up and doing in checking the accounts of government agencies, saying that such would help to prevent corruption in the system.
“We must be able to check accounts of all the government agencies. Every penny we spend in this country must be accounted for,” he said.
Urhoghide, who said that all MDAs would not be entitled to budget without auditing their accounts, called for the strengthening of the AGF to function effectively and regretted that it is only in Nigeria that things are done without respect for the rule of law.
He also requested for the nominal role of the agency and pointed out that corruption is rising in the country because the AGF has not been doing well. He called on the executive to rise up to its responsibility and address the challenges of insufficient appropriation faced by the agency.
While stressing that the office needed everything to be revived to enable it take charge of its responsibilities, the lawmaker said everything had to be checked in the office so that the country could get value for money.
“We need to activate the office to achieve maximum result. I appeal to the executive, and, in fact, Mr. President, to ensure that the auditor general is equipped to fight corruption and not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The campaign was supposed to start from the AGF’s office and not EFCC,” he said.