Make Public Results Of Probe Into MDAs Spending, CACOL Tells Lagos Assembly

A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), has asked the Lagos State House of Assembly to make public the results of its ongoing probe of the Auditor-General’s report for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.

Recall that the House Committee on Public Accounts had on Monday commenced deliberation, probe and consideration of the 2022 Auditor General’s report for MDAs in the state.

The Chairman of the committee, Kehinde Joseph, said: “This exercise will cover the period from 1st January to 31st December 2022 as well as the economic activities of all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government in all sectors of the State Government. The committee will be inviting all heads of indicted MDAs for clarifications regarding the queries raised in the Auditor-General’s Report to enhance service delivery.

“The exercise will also ascertain the completion, accuracy, and reliability of the financial transactions within the sectors and confirm the level of compliance with financial regulations, relevant legislations, and accounting standards as well as reflect on each sector’s financial performance and position.

“In addition, the committee would confirm the revenue and budget performances of all MDAs, capital expenditure, reconciliation of the financial records with the Oracle system of the MDAs, and ascertain the project management and control systems of MDAs in Lagos State.”

But in a statement, CACOL while commending the assembly, said that making public the results of the investigations would help taxpayers to know how the state’s finances are being spent.

CACOL also urged the committee to carry out the exercise without political considerations, adding that the recommendations of the committee should be put to use by both the executive and legislative arms of government.

“We at CACOL are very happy to hear of this noble move by the Lagos State House of Assembly. Lagos being the commercial nerve centre of the country with its huge revenue and gigantic projects springing up at different parts of the state must strive to be a shining light to other states by always making those at the helms of affairs at the various MDAs to give account of their stewardship to the residents of the state. We hope the exercise would be carried out without political considerations and it would not be used to settle unnecessary political scores. We also want to urge the Committee members to make the results of their investigations public, so that ordinary taxpayers in the street would be able to know what is going on in terms of the finances of the state and also the recommendations of the Committee should be put to use by both the executive and legislative arms of government in the state,” said CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran.

He added: “We want to commend the Lagos State Public Accounts Committee for investigating the activities of these MDAs. The 1999 constitution of Nigeria generally vests the state’s legislature with the power to make laws, although this responsibility is not limited to making laws as a lot of additional responsibility including that of oversight has also been placed upon the legislature. We want to believe that if the current trend by the Public Account Committee of the Lagos State House of Assembly is intensified and sustained with the cooperation of the Executive arm of government in the state, stemming the tide of corruption in the various agencies and parastatals of the state government will not be a herculean task.”