Senate threatens to demand MDA chiefs’ sack over audit report

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday threatened to demand the removal of heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for failing to appear before the panel to defend queries issued to them by the Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine.

The committee also warned the MDAs against sending representatives whenever they are summoned to the legislative complex.

The Chairman of the Committee, Mathew Urhoghide, stated this during a public hearing on the Auditor-General’s report querying the MDAs for violating audit laws.

Some of the agencies invited to the public hearing were the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, Accountant-General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

Others were the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Debt Management Office (DMO), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Head of Service of the Federation, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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While some MDAs appeared before the panel to defend queries raised in the report, others sent representatives and some did not send representatives at all.

While the Secretary of PTAD, Chioma Ejikeme, was at the hearing in person, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Comptroller-General of the Customs and PenCom sent representatives.

The DPR, NBS, HoS, FIRS, INEC, and DMO had no representatives.

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