ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home Editorial

Tackling corruption in MDAs

9th March 2021
in Editorial
0
Tackling corruption in MDAs
0
SHARES
81
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Year after year, Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are enmeshed in shocking financial malfeasance and other sundry irregularities that have caused huge revenue loss to the country. The latest of such infraction involves the reported N18.3 billion frauds in 25 MDAs, while 17 others were reported to have failed to remit N54.6billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to government treasury. The revelation came on the heels of government’s inauguration of a committee to curb employment racket in the MDAs.

At the inauguration of the committee recently, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. FolashadeYemi-Esan, decried repeated incidences of sharp practices, especially fake appointment letters that were discovered in some of the MDAs. The most shocking was the Annual Report from the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF), which discovered irregularities in the award, execution and payment in procurement across 25 MDAs totaling N18.3billion, in addition to non-remittance of N54.billion IGR from Value Added Tax (VAT), Withholding Tax, and Stamp Duties. The 2018 report, which was signed by immediate past AuGF, Anthony Ayine, examined the level of compliance of MDAs with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, particularly Sections 19, 24 and 25 as they relate to their procurement process. Among the MDAs listed in the report for irregularities in payment to contractors include, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSIF), Ministry of Works and Housing, National Arts Theatre, Lagos. Similarly, MDAs indicted for improper award of contracts include, National Agency for Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and others.                                                 

Last year, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, revealed how N2.67 billion meant for the school feeding programme in some unity schools ended up in personal accounts of top officials of MDAs during the COVID-19 lockdown.        

Besides, another N2.5 billion was reportedly misappropriated by a senior civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and his cronies.   Other assets recovered in the Agric ministry included 18 choice buildings, 12 business premises and 25 plots of land, most of them in Abuja.     

Altogether, government must check mounting corruption in the MDAs. It is not just enough to raise the alarm. The government should show enough seriousness in the fight against corruption. The era of business as usual must be done away with. This is important because the agencies drive government’s policies and programmes and with recurring financial malfeasance, the programmes will not succeed.                          

In 2017, the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) turned in a damning report on the financial records of many MDAs. It uncovered huge financial infractions and mismanagement of funds.  After the audit, deficiencies were noted in the processes for consolidating the balances of MDAs into one economic entity.      The 2017 Audit Report revealed that 160 government agencies defaulted in the submission of audited accounts for 2016, 265 for 2017. Eleven MDAs were reported to have never submitted any financial statements since inception. We agree with the AuGF’s recommendation and urge the National Assembly to impose stringent sanctions, including withholding financial releases and sanctions on Heads of the defaulting agencies that do not render timely accounts as provided in the Constitution, the financial regulations and other relevant laws.    

Government should act on the recommendations of the AuGF’s report. Failure to take appropriate action based on the report will defeat the aim, which is to check public sector corruption in the MDAs. The main duty of the Auditor-General’s office is to protect public interest by performing a detailed and objective examination of public accounts as well as scrutinise MDAs expenditures.    

All revenue-generating agencies should also comply with the provisions of Section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). A few years ago, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) disclosed that the MDAs defrauded the country of over N1trillion in the last seven years. Also, in 2016, the Federal Government sought the prosecution of 33 of its agencies over non-remittance of N450billion reportedly generated between 2010 and 2015. To check corruption in the MDAs, a directive was subsequently given to all MDAs to close their accounts with commercial banks, and henceforth, remit all revenues to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) domiciled in the CBN. It is unclear if they complied with the order.   

Not acting on the recommendations of the Auditor-General defeats the promise of the present administration   to fight official corruption, particularly in the MDAs.  Henceforth, we suggest that the MDAs should present their audited accounts before the end of every financial year. We believe that doing so will help the government to seamlessly implement the budget.

Tags: corruptionMDAs
Rapheal

Rapheal

Related Posts

Nigeria’s debt to China hits $3.121bn
Editorial

Nigeria’s rising loan debts from China

20th April 2021
Technology as unifier: A WhatsApp experience
Editorial

Technology as unifier: A WhatsApp experience

20th April 2021
How I was manhandled by Police, DSS, others –Sanusi
Editorial

Nigeria’s unwieldy political/economic structure

19th April 2021
Next Post
Contempt: Wema Bank chairman, directors must appear in court, Judge insists

Wema Bank investigates allegation of staff abuse

Banks fund 273,435 businesses with N1.8tr loan –CBN

LAPOMFB wins ACGSF Best Supporting Bank of Year 2020

Polaris Bank boss charges new employees on opportunities in digital age

Polaris Bank to unveil 2nd millionaire, other winners in  ‘Save & Win’ Promo

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Communal Clash: Gombe gov’t bans hunting as hoodlums attack Sealed Communities

Police neutralise 3 bandits, recover 330 stolen animals in Katsina State – PPRO

Wike urges FG to allow states develop their minerals, pay royalty

COVID-19: NCDC conducts 1,870,915 tests, confirms 70 new infections

We won’t force any athlete to represent Nigeria –Kida

Police reveal plans for athletes after retirement

Trending

Chadian President killed in on the frontline
Cover

Chadian President killed in on the frontline

20th April 2021
0

Chad's President Idriss Deby has died while visiting troops on the front line of a fight against...

Senate passes 2017 Appropriation Bill through second reading

Alleged assualt: More trouble for CCT chairman, Umar, as Senate commences probe

20th April 2021
NAPTIP calls for effective counter-trafficking policies, ideas to tackle human trafficking

NAPTIP calls for effective counter-trafficking policies, ideas to tackle human trafficking

20th April 2021
Gombe Gov sets-up Commission of Inquiry to investigate violent protests in Billiri

Communal Clash: Gombe gov’t bans hunting as hoodlums attack Sealed Communities

20th April 2021
police

Police neutralise 3 bandits, recover 330 stolen animals in Katsina State – PPRO

20th April 2021

Follow us on social media:

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist