Assembly begins probe of MDAs’ audited account

TRACKING___Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday began the 2019 consideration exercise of the state Auditor-General’s statutory report on the account of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Addressing reporters at the opening of the exercise, the Chairman of the committee, Nurudeen Saka-Solaja, said the purpose of the exercise was not to witch-hunt.

He added that it was to invite heads of the indicted MDAs and seek clarifications from them as regards the outstanding queries raised in the Auditor-General’s report to enhance better service delivery.

Saka-Solaja said the Public Account Committee is a statutory establishment of the 1999 Constitution and an important instrument of checks, probity and accountability by the legislature at the federal and state levels.

He said: “Sections 125(2) and 129(1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended empower the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly to ‘summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other things in his possession or under his control and examine him as witness and require him to produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, subject to all just exceptions’ during the deliberation and consideration exercise of the audited report of the accounts of MDAs submitted by the Auditor-General of the state.

“Accordingly, in consonance with the need for effective and best practices in the pursuit of its statutory objectives, the Public Accounts Committee (State) of the Lagos State House of Assembly today commenced the deliberations and considerations of the audited report of the state Auditor-General on the accounts of the Lagos State Government for the year ended, 31st December, 2019.”

Saka-Solaja assured Lagosians that as part of the oversight function of the legislative arm of government, all monies budgeted for the MDAs would be properly scrutinised as well as judiciously spent as captured in the budget of the state.