Following discrepancies noticed in the 2013 budget expenditures presented to the House Committee on Public Account by the office of the Auditor General, the Committee yesterday demanded for the receipts and vouchers for the capital component of the budget.
The management of the Auditor-General office led by the Auditor General, Mr. Samuel Ukura, was unable to give satisfactory answers to many questions regarding the performance of the 2013 budget.
Ukura disclosed to the Committee that N100 million unutilised fund allocated for purchase of vehicle was mopped up at the end of 2013 financial year, but the documents submitted by his office indicated that it was N150 million that was mopped up by the Accountant General office.
He told the committee that the 2013 capital budget of the Office performance was 57.7 per cent whereas the committee discovered it was 45 percent.
Ukura told the Adesola Solomon-led Public Account Committee that it was the office of the Bureau of Public Procurement that gave directive that the Accountant General office should purchase vehicle from Innoson car manufacturer.
According to him, based on the directive, his office could not advertise and organise for bidding so that a capable manufacturer could deliver those vehicle.
He said because Innoson could not deliver the vehicle before the end of the financial year, the N100 million earmarked was lapsed and was mopped up by the federal government.
Following his submission, the Chairman of the Committee directed that the leadership of the BPP should appear before the committee next Tuesday to explain why such directive was given.
On the issue of the controversial service wide vote, the Accountant General denied that any allocation was made to his office.
On the contrary, the Chairman of the committee alleged that the Sum of N200 billion was said to have been allocated to Auditor General office from the service wide vote by the Budget Office.
On the alleged missing money at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Auditor General said that 20 staff trained in oil and gas auditing last year were on the field auditing the Corporations account books.
