Unaudited accounts of MDAs worsening leakages
Financial mishandling in Nigeria’s public administration has remained a deep seated phenomenon. With broadening extension over the years, the dimensions of the wings of the deficiency have well become an estate accommodating sharp practices which have eaten deep into the socio-economic fabrics of the Country, with far reaching impacts of debilitating strings. The consideration of the direct and indirect impacts, by and large, could be seen to have formed clogs of inconsistencies which are known to have become so recalcitrant as entanglements frustrating meaningful development in the Country.
The subject of the perusal of the cause and effect relations are, by and large, embodied with controversies which are expression of the reflections of gaps of dysfunctions within uncoordinated systems which have so given their expression deep seated pronouncement. To the extent to which the workings of the system of public administration in the Country is ridden with functional deficiencies, the possibilities of charade to cheat on the system for personal benefits against the interest of the masses have been made very alive.
This expression has more resoundingly been a function of the absence of certain structures to check against the possibilities of leakages through which public funds could be exploited for selfish purposes against popular interest. Where such structures exist, it is apparent they are largely too weak to give vibrant and proactive responses to mitigate and, very strongly, forestall the possibilities of such escapades. Hence, the deficiencies have readily left a system of administration where the state has remained at the mercy of individuals who are predisposed to cheating on the system for personal aggrandisement.
The inability of the Nigerian public administration system to propel development as longed for, is therefore a function of the weak character of the system before individuals. Hence, the need to remodel the system by structural overhauling to strengthen it to the height of virility above the prevailing personified character where individuals exploit it to the whims and caprices of individualised tendencies, is paramount.
The rounds of cases of financial leakages across Government Ministeries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), have become so reverberating that thoughts of the depths of the deep seated character of the phenomenon reflect nothing but sapping of resources meant for propelling development for personal benefits. Hence, rather than building strong systems of socio-economic and political formations, individual aggrandisement has strongly overshadowed what makes up the socio-economic and political configuration of the Country. The cheat on the system has thus rendered development prospect a facade in the Country.
In the light of the foregoing, for as much as the prevailing system is maintained, development in the Country may remain a dream. Sustaining a system where public funds are easily diverted, laundered, stolen, and misappropriated. Without pronounced structures to firmly effect accountability, will only approximate to a situation where the possibilities of development becomes a tale. The absence of such structures and their weakness where available, speak volumes to the blurry prospect to have a system of governance where sincerity and accountability find expression.
Recently, the revelations of how leakages have given room to deep seated mishandling of public funds in MDAs and parastatals of the Federal Government have left nothing but the ravages that such lacunas portend on the Country. This is not however, to say that such lacunas do not exist within state government MDAs and other lower components of government. Reports of the depth of misgivings owing to shortfalls of remittances to the Federal pulse from MDAs and Parastatals have been taking toll, following investigations by the National Assembly. Probes by panels of both chambers of the parliament have seen heads of these MDAs been cut in the midst of embarrassing engagement, following wobbling accounts to give explanations to cases of financial shortfalls. Summon on several of these MDAs have with their appearance ended with unsavoury and inconclusive hearings with gross failure to provide detailed reports to clear the air with no doubt on identified unaccounted public funds.
It is apparent that the estate giving these lacunas, is the voice of existence is the reality of structural defects occasioning their possibilities. On Monday, the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had disclosed that 65 agencies of the Federal Government have never been audited since they were created. Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, who made the disclosure at the opening of a workshop in Lagos, tagged ‘National Workshop on Auditor-General’s Queries: ‘The A-B-C of Responses, PAC Technology Innovations and MDAs Compliance’, had said additionally, that 12 MDAs aside from the 65 agencies were not audited from 1993 to 2010. He further disclosed that 76 MDAs failed to submit audited reports to the Auditor-General for the Federation in 2011; 85 did not submit in 2012; 109 failed to do same in 2013; 148 in 2014, 215 in 2015, and 323 in 2016.
The Chairman of the Committee who spoke through the Deputy Chairman, Abdullahi Abdulkadir, at the workshop organised in partnership with the Office of the Accountant General of Federation and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, had said: “The 2016 report of the OAuGF threw up quite a number of intractable issues which then required a very careful scrutiny even with the previous years’ reports. Prominent among these issues were refusal by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to render accounts of stewardship, and in many cases, these accounts were rendered very late. In addition to the above, 12 MDAs have never been audited from 1993 to 2010; and 65 Agencies have never been audited since they were created. This situation gave rise to the well-publicised and just concluded public hearing on this subject matter to which all of you were witnesses.”
He had lamented that in the course of representation by various MDAs, the committee noticed acts of impunity by the MDAs, which included the manual dumping of huge volumes of documents at the secretariat some few days before hearing. He was further quoted: “A number of agencies were found wanting in terms of rendition of audited accounts to the Auditor General of the Federation. Constitutionally, for Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the Auditor General of the Federation works on their accounts. 65 agencies have never been audited before. This is an issue that is still before the National Assembly. The names of the agencies will be made known to the public after or when the House starts to consider it. The contemporary rules we have, especially concerning financial regulations, specify certain penalties to these agencies.” PAC Technical Adviser, Dr Greg Ezeilo had also said, over the years, most of the Agencies had never been able to submit their accounts for audit. “Imagine a situation where over 65 agencies never ever made an account since they were created and they are still being funded by the Federal Government,” he had queried.
It would be recalled that last month, Wednesday, 18th August, 2021, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, while presenting the 2019 audit report to the National Assembly in Abuja, had disclosed that MDAs of the Federal Government failed to account for a total sum of N4.97trillion in 2019. The Auditor General who disclosed that the MDAs failed to substantiate the sum after an audit of their financial statements, had emphasised that the N4.97trillion unsubstantiated balances are above the materiality level of N89.34billion set for the audit.
He was quoted: “From the audit carried out on the 2019 Federal Government Consolidated Financial Statement, unsubstantiated balances amounting to N4.97tn were observed. The N4.97trn unsubstantiated balances are above the materiality level of N89.34bn set for the audit. In auditing, materiality means not just a quantified amount but also the effect that amount will have in various contexts. During the auditing planning process, the auditor decides what the level of materiality will be, taking into account the entirety of the financial statements to be audited.”
The web of corruption has entangled the Country so tightly that breaking off the entanglements has become a salvaging cry that is non negotiable for change in narratives. It is indisputable that the Country has drifted far from the radar of development course, as the prevailing system of rots which gives expression to exploitable gaps of corruption has eaten too deep on the fabrics which are propellants of development. The weakening of these parameters have exposed the Country to ravages with symptoms of socio-economic and political collapse. It is saddening that the firmness of structures to fight against these cankerworms appear not to be existing, or in cases where they may reflect some existence, their capabilities and sincerity are largely questionable.
In his submission last month, the Auditor-General had lamented that his office remained incapacitated from optimal functionality, particularly, relating to detection of mismanagement of public funds by the MDAs. In his lamentation, he had decried that his office has been handicapped owing to various factors crippling its operations, and as a result, an atmosphere for all forms of financial infractions across the various MDAs to thrive.
“One of such problems is the absence of Federal Audit Service Law, which is a big challenge as far as effective and efficient public sector auditing are concerned. This is a law that is needed as basis of fiscal sustainability. Another problem incapacitating optimal functionality of our mandate, as far as thorough and appropriate auditing of financial statements of the MDAs are concerned, is gross underfunding which is telling much on our efficiency. Accommodation is also part of the problem as our staff in Lagos are about to be evicted from their office due to litigations. These are aside problem of insecurity seriously affecting our scope of coverage,” he was quoted.
The absence of such legal instruments as a Federal Audit Service Law, to constitute structures to drive fiscal sustainability in the Federation, is a further justification of the questionable posture of the custodians of political institutions to eliminate the web of corruption in the Country. The posture of the National Assembly to probes, majority of which have not resulted into conclusive outcomes of prosecution to serve as deterrents to mischievous public officers, remains questionable. The sincerity of such probes therefore, pose questions over the foundational orientation informing them.
It is only rational for the custodians of political institutions at the echelons of authorities from the Excutive to the Legislative arms in the Federation to swing swiftly to action with the force of urgency to redress, by metamorphic instruments, the deficiencies of the structural compositions of public offices which the prevailing lacunas of the system have permitted to prevail. Crafting legal instruments to institutionalise well defined structures to bring to book merchants of public offices hell bent on the mischief of merchandising public resources for personal benefits, remains sacrosanct.
It is glaring that the porosity of the system of public administration in Nigeria has left exploitable gaps which, without remediating reconfigurations, will continue to foreclose the possibilities of change from the prevailing nauseating narratives. The cleavage to the traditional method of trying to stop corruption through unsystemic die-hard measures has reflected its weakness and failure. Reconfiguring the orientation of the system of public administration in the Country with the evolution of structures to automatically foreclose the possibilities of leakages giving chance to the expression of corruption in governance, is non negotiable for changes in narratives. Nigerian public offices have been left at the mercies of individuals who have largely exploited the lacuna of the public administration system to their interest for personal aggrandisement, against public interest they are meant to protect. It is no gainsaying that overhauling the system to introduce resistant structures to foreclose all leakage channels have become an emergency. The custodians of the echelons of legislative and executive architectures in the Country must come to terms to salvage the bleeding Country from the ravages of the prevailing exploitations.
