Reps transfer to dam budgets of defaulting MDAs

Authorities-owned firms, businesses, and commissions that fail to transmit their yearly audited monetary statements to the Workplace of the Auditor-Basic for the Federation could quickly be denied budgetary allocations, following a recent constitutional modification proposal by the Home of Representatives.

The transfer is geared toward tightening fiscal oversight and imposing long-standing accountability provisions that many Ministries, Departments, and Companies have routinely ignored.

For years, delays or outright failure by MDAs to submit audited accounts have undermined the work of the Auditor-Basic and weakened the capability of the Nationwide Meeting’s Public Accounts Committees to scrutinise public spending and sanction infractions.

Underneath the present constitutional framework, MDAs are required to submit audited accounts, however there are not any clear provisions relating to the timeframe. This loophole has enabled a number of businesses to function for a number of fiscal years with out audited monetary statements, leading to gaps in audit reviews and hindering legislative oversight.

Members of the Public Accounts Committees in each the Senate and the Home of Representatives have repeatedly complained that the absence of up-to-date audited accounts makes it troublesome to trace expenditure, confirm compliance with appropriations, or comply with up on queries raised in earlier audit reviews.

It’s in opposition to this backdrop that the Home of Representatives initiated a constitutional alteration to compel compliance and introduce enforceable sanctions.

The proposal, which mandates authorities statutory establishments, together with Ministries, Departments, and Companies, to submit yearly monetary statements to the Workplace of the Auditor Basic of the Federation inside a specified interval, has been adopted by the Home Committee on Structure Evaluation, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Dr Benjamin Kalu. Lawmakers are anticipated to vote on the alterations when the Nationwide Meeting resumes from its Christmas/New 12 months recess later in January 2026.

Clause two of the alteration is the enactment of a brand new Part 85 (8–11), which reads, “All authorities statutory firms, commissions, authorities and businesses, together with all individuals and our bodies established by an Act of the Nationwide Meeting, shall submit an audited monetary assertion of all their transactions to the Auditor Basic of the Federation inside 90 to 180 days of the brand new monetary 12 months.

“The audited monetary assertion should additionally comprise detailed details about the dealings of such a authorities physique. Failure of any authorities statutory firms, commissions, authorities or businesses, together with all individuals and our bodies established by an Act of the Nationwide Meeting, to adjust to the above directive, the Nationwide Meeting shall stop from approving such physique’s price range for the succeeding 12 months.”

Subsection 11 of the modification additional offers that, “The Auditor-Basic for the Federation shall submit the names of any authorities statutory firms, commissions, authorities or businesses, together with all individuals and our bodies established by an Act of the Nationwide Meeting, that violate the supply of this part to the Nationwide Meeting for fast exclusion from the price range of the succeeding 12 months.”

If handed and ratified by the parliament and signed into legislation by the President, the modification would characterize one of many strongest accountability measures in Nigeria’s public finance administration system, immediately linking entry to public funds with compliance with audit necessities.

Lawmakers consider the specter of budgetary exclusion will compel authorities businesses, commissions, and firms to prioritise well timed audits and, in flip, strengthen the effectiveness of legislative oversight and public accountability.