National Assembly’s Public Account Committee Reports Ignored for 25 years – Ex-official
Patrick Giwa, a former Clerk of the House of Representatives, has said no reports of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of both chambers of the National Assembly have ever been acted on for a staggering 25 years.
It means that all the reports by the committees which are pivotal to the oversight responsibilities of the National Assembly over the Nigerian government have been ignored since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
Mr Giwa, who is also the pioneer clerk of PAC, made this revelation during the inaugural meeting of the 10th House’s PAC in Abuja.
The Public Accounts Committee of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are crucial committees established by the standing orders of both chambers of the National Assembly.
The committees are established to scrutinise the federal government’s accounts as they seek to hold government institutions accountable for the use of public funds.
They study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials for questioning, and report on their findings subsequent to a government budget audit.
But in a startling revelation, Mr Giwa said despite drafting over 200 reports and presenting more than 2,000 recommendations during his tenure with PAC, none of them was ever taken into consideration by the National Assembly.
“I am telling fellow Nigerians that the PAC report has never been considered in the past 25 years. They check out reports every year but they are not considered.
“Members of PAC do so much work. The committee is always committed to doing the work but at the end of the day, they are not considered.”
Mr Giwa’s account of his experiences as the pioneer clerk of the committee highlights the frustration of PAC members who diligently carry out their responsibilities only to see their efforts ignored year after year.
He advocated greater support for the Office of the Auditor General, emphasising the importance of enabling them to carry out their mandate effectively.
On the challenges faced by auditors when investigating government accounts, he revealed that some agencies even resort to physical attacks to deter auditors.
Mr Giwa noted that it had taken years of effort by PAC to improve the welfare and working conditions of the Auditor General’s office.
Responding to these revelations, the incumbent PAC chairman, Bamidele Salami, assured that the committee would make it a priority to address this long-standing issue.
According to him, “This time, we would work harder, smarter, and in a manner that will ensure we recover quite a whole lot of ground.
“There are lots of expectations from the leadership of the House and from Nigerians,” Mr Salami said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Giwa’s disclosure shed light on a long-standing issue that has gone unaddressed for far too long.
Mr Bamidele, however, assured that the PAC of the 10th House is determined to rectify this matter as they take up their responsibilities.
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