The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has urged that the heads of MDAs must render their audited accounts for the fiscal year to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) and warned against non-compliance.
This was disclosed by the House Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Wole Oke, on Tuesday in Abuja. He warned MDA chiefs over their noncompliance in appearing before the House Committee during the Budget Defense period.
He added that the House would not tolerate the act anymore, citing the River Basin Development Authorities whose officers failed to appear before the House over audit queries issued by the AGF.
Mr. Oke said the House would not let such acts go on, as the accumulated accounts that had been queried ran into sums valued at billions of Naira.
“Enough of this. As lawmakers, we cannot allow this to continue. If you are put in charge of a department or an organisation, you are expected to render account,” he said.
“What are we telling Nigerians? Queries are raised and those affected have been refusing to appear before the parliament for examination.
“Is the AGF telling lies against them? We will give them just the last chance to appear; failing to do so, the committee will drag them before their employer, President Muhammadu Buhari,” he added.
He said the inquiry was not a form of intimidation as other heads of MDAs had also appeared before the Committee.
“All heads of MDAs that have been appearing before this committee can attest to this. We are giving them and others another chance to retrace their steps and submit themselves for examination before us,” he said.