The Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr Anthony Ayine, has accused the Senate of denying auditors from his office access to conduct audit on capital items supplied or executed for the National Assembly.
Ayine said this in the 2017 audit report of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, which was obtained by our correspondent.
He said all efforts made by the auditors to verify about N1.36bn worth of supplied items were not successful as they were denied access to the store and its records.
The National Assembly had in recent times come under criticism for not being transparent in matters relating to its finances.
Unlike the details of the executive budget usually made available in the Budget Office of the Federation, the parliament’s budget is not available.
Ayine said the implication of the unverified N1.36bn expenditure was that public funds might be diverted to unapproved areas while value for money might not be ascertained from such expenditure.
He said the response from the management of the National Assembly to him that the stores were undergoing renovation at the time of audit was not acceptable.
While stating that his office would not accept this expenditure as a valid charge against public funds, the auditor-general directed the Clerk of the National Assembly to account for the entire sum of N1.36bn.
Ayine directed the clerk to ensure that details of the compliance should be forwarded to his office for confirmation.
Source: Punch Newspaper
