By Paul Effiong
Report by the Auditor-General for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Area Councils has indicted all the six area councils.
The report submitted to the House Public Accounts Committee uncovered widespread financial recklessness and mismanagement, including unremitted taxes, poor asset documentation, as well as expenditure that remain unaccounted for.
The six councils in in the FCT include Abaji Area Council, Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Bwari Area Council, Gwagwalada Area Council, as well as Kuje and Kwali Area Councils.
According to the report which was presented to the committee, yesterday at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, the financial infractions exceeding ₦100 billion was discovered leading to an immediate action by the House panel .
In the report covering the year ended 31 December 2021, the audit documnts revealed that the councils accumulated outstanding liabilities totalling about ₦7.65 billion.
The report disclosed that the outstanding liabilities include unremitted pension deductions, Pay-As-You-Earn, PAYE, Value Added Tax, VAT, withholding taxes and unpaid capital project obligations and debts owed to revenue authorities, pension fund administrators and contractors.
Meanwhile, the breakdown of the audit reports showed that Abuja Municipal Area Council led the list with ₦2.19 billion in liabilities, followed by 1 Bwari Area Council with ₦1.49 billion ,as well as Kwali Area Council with ₦1.46 billion.
The auditor-general reports also faulted the councils for failing to properly maintain Fixed Asset Registers, a lapse that creates room for asset losses, emphasising that Gwagwalada Area Council was singled out for non-current assets valued at ₦336 million that were neither properly documented nor updated.
Accordinly, the audit report also raised red flags over ₦24.87 billion spent in 2021 on personnel, overheads and capital projects stating that despite an 89% increase in expenditure from 2020, about 37% of funds allocated to capital projects could not be properly accounted for in the entire Area Councils.
Further investigation revealed that in 2022 and part of 2023, showed continued breaches of financial regulations, including understatement of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, and unauthorised disposal of assets, non-disclosure of statutory revenue and failure to remit withholding taxes to appropriate authorities.
It was gathered that the report also indicted all the area councils for deliberately refusing to audit and submit their financial accounts for 2023, 2024 and 2025 contrary to statutory requirements.
In his reactions, the Chairman of the House of Representatives on Public Accounts Committee, PAC, Bamidele Salam, confirmed that the audit report had been formally received by his panel.
The chairman said he had issued summon to all the chairmen of the six area councils and their finance directors to appear before his committee.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker, who was displeased with the attitude of the chairmen for their alleged lack of transparency and integrity on account management, warned that failure to appear with their directors of account before the committee on Wednesday, February 11, would force the House to invoke its constitutional powers to order their arrest.
Salam emphasized that public funds must be properly managed transparently and prudently, pointing out that any official found culpable would be held accountable in accordance with the constititutional requirement.
