AKHA Public Accounts Committee submits 2014 audited report

BY OFONIME UDOTU

The Chairman, Public  Accounts Committee in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Aniekan S. Akpan has submitted the report of the audited accounts of the state government for the year 2014to the general house.

The Chairman said that the audited report contains Twenty-two (22) critically analyzed statutory observations and recommendations together with thirty-one (31) unresolved audit queries which were still pending in the various ministries, departments and agencies as at the time of the submission of the report by the state Auditor-General. He disclosed that the related comments and recommendations which were published in two volumes indicate that the financial implications of the unresolved issue amounted to N1,807,972,982.87.

Accepting the Auditor-General’s report, Hon. Akpan said the committee commenced her constitutional task on the document immediately as she reached out to various ministries, departments, agencies, organizations and individuals indicated in the report, just as she took cognizance of the provisions of all relevant regulatory institutions and enactments like the financial regulations, treasury circulars, tender rules, Akwa Ibom State Public Accounts Committee laws and the state audit law. He further explained that at the end of the exercise, the committee, in conjunction with the office of the State Auditor-General successfully reviewed, upheld, confirmed and waived the Auditor-General’s recommendations in respect of queries involving a total sum of N1,558,976,505.11; stressing that the waive were granted on the grounds of proper recommendation of queried figures and the fact that the affected ministries, departments, agencies, individuals, among others have satisfactorily addressed the requirements of the audit on the relevant queries.

The public accounts committee chairman also hinted that since the commencement of the exercise on the report by the committee, a total of N48,598,781.00 have also been fully remitted to government’s accounts. He added that regular bank reconciliations, proper record-keeping, monitoring have been carried out by ministries, departments, agencies and individuals entrusted with the collection, custody and disbursement of public funds as recommended by the state Auditor-General.

The chairman further stated that the exercise has brought significant improvement on the concept and practice of accountability, due process, transparency, probity and prudence in the generation of public funds in the state. He expressed optimism that the House will consider deliberate, and ratify the committee’s report for relevant and timely implementation by the Executive Arm of government.

Hon. Aniekan commended the State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio for his uncommon transparency, and prudent utilization of public funds appropriated by the House for the year under review, maintaining that both the actual recurrent and capital expenditure profiles were within the ambits of 2014 budget.

The chairman, thanked the speaker, honourable members, the chief consultant, the assessors, the state auditor-general and all the relevant ministries and agencies for their contributions and support which have made the work on the Audited Account Report of the year ended, 31st December, 2014 a huge success.