Reps accuse Office of Auditor General of Recklessness during COVID-19 Lockdown.

 Jonas Ezieke, Abuja

The House of Representatives on Wednesday accused the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation OAuGF of extra-budgetary spending of the yearly budgetary allocations by the Presidency to the agency approved by the National Assembly to it for its operations for 2019-2021 fiscal years.

The resolution was passed sequel to an oversight visit to the

Audit House headquarters of the OAuGF in Abuja in which Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts Hon. Oluwole Oke.and some other lawmakers  picked holes in the agency’s yearly financial reports tendered without vouchers and other supporting documents.

Some of the subheads queried by the Committee include: N1.9 million allegedly spent on new clinic and additional sum of N3.967 million spent on drugs and medical supplies as well as N7.721 million spent on medical consulting despite payment of N55.933 million as NHIS contribution as contained in the 2020 financial statement against N87.870 million NHIS contribution paid in 2019.

The lawmakers also demanded for the staff nominal roll of the office of the Auditor’s office over increase in the N1.977 billion personnel cost for 2019 to which N1.991 billion was appropriated in 2020, despite the depleting workforce and the request for 500 new staff.

Upon an inspection team visit, the Audit clinic which is located on the first floor of the Audit House was discovered to have only two female nurses who dressed in mufti as it contains a medium oxygen cylinder and a single bed.

According to the documents presented to the Committee, out of total sum of N984.231 million budget appropriated in 2019, the sum of N969.487 million was released for which training got a larger chunk of the released fund.

The lawmakers however queried the expenditure of N120,304,830 spent on international travels & transport (audit of foreign mission, consular offices & 20 defence attaches); N40,710,380 spent on local travels & Transport (training), additional N286,881,055.18 on local travels & transport, others (hqtrs/State branch office and additional N100,093,600 spent on local travels as well as N35,710,812 spent on Auditors-General annual conference without specifying the location and vouchers; N3.527,267 spent on sporting activities;  N11,946,250 spent on welfare packages without specifying beneficiaries and vouchers; N59 million spent on Governance/Institutional reforms as well as beneficiaries of N696,500 spent on honourarium and sitting allowances and N62.768 million spent on office stationaries/computer consumables for the period under review.

In the same vein, the OAuGF spent N28,850,080 on purchase ofunspecified number of desktops and laptops computers as well as the sum of N49,999,616.88 without any vouchers.

During their investigative hearing, the lawmakers also queried the total sum of N1.358 billion approved for overheads in 2020 out of which N1.324 billion released and spent despite the economic lockdown at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, lamented that larger chunk of the fund was expended on training/local travels and transportation, while subheads on office rehabilitation and maintenance were duplicated in the capital component of the 2020 financial records transmitted to the Committee during the oversight function.

Other controversial subheads queried by the lawmakers include: N32.628 million spent on local travels and transport; additional N331.455 million on local travels & transport, others (Hqtrs & States), N25.004 million on international travels & transport; N188.762 million spent on international travels & transport (audit of foreign mission, consular offices and 20 Attaches) and additional N961.441 million on local training; N21.051 million spent on office stationaries/computer consumables; N3.967 million spent on drugs and medical supplies;N96.274 million spent on maintenance of office building (Lagos & state offices).

 Additionally,  N4.395 million was also spent on maintenance of office furniture and N16.830 million on maintenance of office/IT equipment; N4.002 million on other maintenance, N77.284 million on welfare packages,N8.423 million on sporting activities, N6.780 million on honourarium & sitting allowances, N7.721 million spent on medical consulting despite payment of N55.933 million as NHIS contribution; N14.542 million spent on Governance/Institutional reforms.

Worried by these discoveries, a member of the House Committee Hon. Omowumi Ogunlola said: “We have a document prepared for us which is pre-emptive.

We don’t have any evidence or proof of how the money here is being expended. We at the Public Account Committee have always insisted that MDAs call in with their evidence of their spending and expenditure. Is it because this is Auditor General’s office that they will just give to us these documents for us to see without any evidence of how the budget given to them is being expended?

“Secondly, this is the office of the Auditor General of that Federation. You audit all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Who audit this office? Which office is saddled with that responsibility of checkmating this office?

“We are not auditing them, but oversighting them. So, who calls to order the recklessness of the financial spending of this office?” she stated.