By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The House of Representatives has invited the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to appear before its Committee on Public Finance and Accounts over alleged financial infractions to the tune of over N100 billion.
The invitation followed the submission of the Auditor -General’s report to the law makers which indicted the authorities of the Councils over serious instances of gross violation of extant financial rules and regulations.
Those expected to appear before the House Committee to answer questions over the alleged massive financial breaches are the Chairmen and Financial Directors of Bwari, Abuja Municipal, Abaji,Gwagwalada ,Kuje and Kwali Local Government Areas .
The Auditor -General’s report for the financial year ended December 31, 2021 highlighted several cases of unremitted statutory revenues, including deductions ,poor asset management ,as well as illegal and other uncounted expenditures by all the six Local Government Areas.
The report also showed that the Councils within the period under review accumulated over N 7.65 billion in debts and other liabilities.
According to the Auditor -General, the debts and liabilities include unremitted pension deductions, Pay-As-You-Earn, PAYE, Value Added Tax VAT , withholding tax , unpaid capital project obligations ,and other statutory remittances due the Nigeria Revenue Service NRS ,FCT Inland Revenue Service , Pension Funds Administrators and contractors.
The report similarly revealed that the Abuja Municipal Area Council top the liability and debt list with a total indebtedness of N2 .19.billion ,. While Abaji ranks lowest with a liability of N593.8.million.
Gwagwalada, Bwari, Kwali and Kuje have accumulated debt and other liabilities of N 1.01 billion ,N1.49 billion,N 1.46 billion and N 892.8 billion respectively.
According to the report, the Councils, while claiming to have spent over N24 billion on personnel cost, over heads and capital projects within the same period, could not, however, properly account for the about 37 percent of the funds earmarked for capital projects execution.
The Councils were also indicted for their failure to maintain Fixed Asset Registers, a development leading non-current assets not properly documented or updated , leading to asset losses without trace .
The breakdown of the Councils’ expenditure according to the report showed that Abuja Municipal spent N5.03 billion , Gwagwalada N4 .66 billion ,Kuje N3.85.,Kwali N3.84
billion ,Bwari N3.74 billion and Abaji spending N3 .71 billion within the period under review.
Instructively, the Auditor -General’s report indicated that a review of both the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year also showed massive financial breaches on the part of the Councils’ activities including unauthorized disposable of assets , non-disclosure of statutory revenues ,and withholding of deductions and taxes.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts ,Hon Bamidele Salam , while confirming the receipt of the Audit report , informed that three separate letters have been issued to the Chairmen of the Councils’ ,and their finance directors requesting them to appear and respond to the findings .
“We have written formally to the Chairmen and their finance directors to appear before this committee ,and give explanations on the issues raised in the audit report.
” Let me also make it clear that the invitation is the final one . Failure to honour it will leave the House with no other option but to invoke its constitutional powers to compel their appearance , including ordering their arrest” Hon Salam warned.
This is as the Committee Chairman frowned at the tendency for public institutions entrusted with public funds not to prepare and submit proper accounts for several years.
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