Federation, Idris Ahmed, holds a phone at his office in Abuja on
April 9, 2020. Photo: Channels TV/ Sodiq Adelakun.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation
(OAGF) is grossly underfunded and cannot be effective in ensuring
transparency and prudence in the administration of government
resources.
This is according to members of the Senate Committee on Finance
who raised an alarm at a budget defence session on Thursday at the
National Assembly in Abuja.
The lawmakers disapproved of the agency’s 2021 budget which they
described as lamentable, especially at a time when the country was
experiencing revenue leakages.
They were worried that the agency charged with blocking revenue
leakages was not being financially empowered to perform its
duty.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
At the session, the office of the Accountant General presented a
budget proposal of N483.4 million as capital expenditure and N3.711
billion for the 2021 financial year.
The Senate Committee also queried the absence of a platform or
mechanism to monitor daily revenue generated by government
agencies.
It also said it was uncomfortable with the monopoly by REMITA as
the sole payment platform used by all government agencies.
Members of the committee, therefore, directed the
Accountant-General to devise a mechanism for monitoring government
revenue in real-time and include the cost in the 2021 budget.