From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),Yemi Cardoso, over alleged violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 and lapses identified in the 2021 reports by the Auditor General for the Federation.
The House in a letter jointly signed by the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam and Chairman, Committee on Public Assets, Ademorin Kuye, said that Edun and Cardoso are expected to appear before the joint panel tomorrow.
The Finance Minister and CBN boss were requested to provide details on remittance of operating surplus to the Federation Account by the apex bank in line with the provisions of extant laws and regulations.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) and the Auditor General for the Federation, in their recent reports alleged that several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the CBN have failed to remit or under-remitted their operating surpluses as required by extant financial laws and regulations in the last six years.
Salam noted that “these violations have negatively impacted the liquidity of the Federal Government and constitute a hindrance to effective implementation of the budgets passed by parliament.”
Thus, the joint panel said after an ample opportunity to the Finance Ministry and CBN to reconcile their accounts, Edun and Cardoso are expected to present their positions to lawmakers to enable the parliament determine the degree of financial liabilities.
Also, the joint panel noted that the Auditor General of the Federation report indicated that some public assets which had been fully paid for have not been completed and put into use for many years.
It said: “Some of these projects in Dutse, Abeokuta and other locations were awarded between 2011 and 2016, but yet to be completed according to audit reports”.
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