By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Office of the Auditor General of Bauchi State has lamented that as of December 31st, 2022, out of the amount given out as imprest to government officials for one reason or the other, the total amount of un-retired as contained in General Books of Accounts amounted to the sum of N270,718,820.
The observation was contained in the financial audit report for the year ended 31st December, 2022 forwarded to the State House of Assembly in line with constitutional provisons.
The reported which is in the custody of Tribune Online contained that, “It is really very unfortunate that Imprest granted could reach this magnitude without any effort being made to effect retirement.”
The Auditor General therefore recommended as in his 2021 report that all necessary efforts should be made to effect retirement of the outstanding imprest.
On outstanding advances, the total amount of Outstanding Advances granted as contained in the Accountant General Books of Accounts amounted to the sum of N760,190,828.68 as at December, 2022 resulting to an increased of N50,000.00 more than that of previous year which stood at N760,140,828.68.
“Hence, efforts should be made to retire these advances against the concerned Officers,” the report further contained.
Under the general observations, the report expressed worry over the operations of Bauchi State FGN/AfDB Inclusive Basic Services and livelihood Empowerment Integration Programme.
The report contained that the Agency refused to allow access for Audit Periodic Check from its inception to 31st December 2022 contrary to the provision of Nigerian Constitution 1999
Chapter 125(4) as amended and Audit Law of 2021 Section 13 (b.iv).
The Auditor General then wrote that, “I recommend that the management should be enforced to comply with the provisions of the constitution quoted above.”
Also commenting on Statutory Allocation to Local Government Councils from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the Auditor General wrote that,”It is unfortunate that the government has not remitted Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the 20 Local Government Councils in the state, as revealed by Accountant General’s account.”
He explained that, “The 10% of the Internally Generated Revenue is to be paid to the Local Governments as prescribed by Section 162(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”
According to him as contained in the report, “The amount that would have been remitted to the 20 Local Governments in 2022 amounted to the sum of N2,523,399,968.34. There was an increase in IGR in the year under review totalling N7,331,551,715.70 or 40.95% Vis-à-vis 2021.”
On general Book keeping, the Auditor General’s Report contained that,” This aspect leaves much to be desired. Though there was record keeping when compared to the previous years, there is need to improve more especially on the preparation of Bank Reconciliation which is very important to the Accountant as food is to the body.”
He stressed that Accounting Officers are to ensure that Bank Reconciliation Statement are prepared on monthly basis which serves as lamp to their paths as the importance of such cannot be over emphasized.
He wrote that, “However, some MDAS no longer maintain Departmental Vote Books which are important records. I advise MDAs to ensure maintenance of all Accounting Records to give the government confidence of probity and accountability in line with Chapter 6(0608) and Chapter 19(1910) of Bauchi State Financial Regulations 2001.”
On fixed assets register (FAR), the Auditor General’s reports contained that, “I still want to re-emphasize on non-maintenance of Fixed Assets Register (FAR) by most of the MDAs. The importance of this record cannot be emphasized.”
“To this regard therefore, I recommend that a Consultant be commissioned to open and update this important records in all MDAs. The Consultant should also be caused to train staff on how this can be maintained, so as to safeguard all government assets.”
Commenting on training and retraining, he wrote that, “We have observed nonchalant attitude by MDAs on the area of short-term Training to close the knowledge gap. There are so many challenges occasioned by the emerging issues that necessitate the need to rising up to meet up with global best practice such as Computer based knowledge. IPSAS, Forensic, Environmental and some emerging issues.”
He also stressed that, There is the need for adequate Human capacity building reforms on public Financial Management and other requirements by Nigerian Governors Forum and SFTAS.”
“There should be a capacity building for Staff with these responsibilities to meet with the current reality of all financial transactions and procedures from Budgeti process as well as the Auditing.
This will in no small measure greatly help in facilitation of work improvement on the quality of reports emanating from these key MDAs.”
On Internal Control Mechanism, the report contained that, “The importance of sound Internal Control in any organisation cannot be over emphasized. It has been observed that in most MDAs, there is lack of sound internal control system.”
The report stressed that, “During the period under review, none of the Internal Auditors in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) sent in any copy of report to this Office, contrary to the provision of the Bauchi State Financial Regulations Chapter 15, Rule 1508 of 2001. This has greatly impacted negatively on the effectiveness and Internal Auditor and therefore, certain Internal Control violated.”
On free flow of information to the Stakeholder, the Auditor General wrote that, “It has been noted that there is no free flow of basic information to the key stakeholders.”
According to him, “For instance, Contract Documents, Government employment and promotion documents are not regularly sent to this office for follow ups, as a result, this information gap reduces the monitoring expected of this office.”
On monthly Cash flow statements, he commended stating that, “It is well appreciated that the present administration is one of probity and accountability. This can only succeed if the organs of government respect the instrumentality of the system.”
“It is in this premise I want to call on the Accountant General to, as a matter of responsibility, send the Monthly Cash Flow of the government to my Office to ease verification processes before year end. Moreover, I have insisted that Monthly Report of the Internal Auditors should be copied to my office to enable me rely on the information supplied by the Accountant General,” he concluded.
