The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has handed a strict directive to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) to submit all outstanding consolidated financial statements and audited accounts for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
During an investigative hearing in Abuja, the Committee set an October 2026 deadline for the completion of these records, expressing deep concern over the persistent backlog that has left the nation’s financial books unreconciled for years.
The legislative inquiry took a sharp turn as lawmakers scrutinized a ₦9.8 billion payment made to vendors of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) in 2024.
Despite this significant expenditure, the Committee noted that the platform has failed in its core mandate of facilitating timely account reconciliation.
PAC Chairman, Rep. Bamidele Salam, condemned the delays as a violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which requires audited statements to be published within six months of a financial year’s end.
Salam warned that Nigeria’s lag in financial reporting standards severely undermines institutional credibility and deters foreign investors who require transparent and current data.
Defending the delays, the Acting Director of Consolidated Accounts, Mr. Shaibu Sikiru, representing the Accountant-General, cited operational hurdles.
He blamed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for failing to provide complete bank statements for various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), alongside technical glitches within the GIFMIS platform.
Sikiru admitted that the last comprehensive reconciliation of government accounts occurred in 2022.
He also revealed that the engagement of Remita as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) payment gateway was executed without adequate coordination with the OAGF, leading to fragmented data management and operational complications across the federal workforce.
The Auditor-General, Mr. Shaakaa Chira, added that constitutional gaps specifically the lack of a defined timeline for the Accountant-General to submit statements have historically hampered the audit process.
However, he assured the Committee that audit reports addressing internal weaknesses for the 2022–2025 period are currently being finalized.
Ruling on the matter, the Committee emphasized that Section 85(6) of the 1999 Constitution mandates strict legislative scrutiny of the Federation’s accounts and warned that any further failure to comply by October 2026 would result in severe legislative sanctions to enforce public fund accountability.
