Reps panel accuses minister, DG Budget Office of undermining Buhari’s anti-corruption fight

The House of Representatives Public Account Committee has expressed concerns over the underfunding of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

The Chairman of the Committee, Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun) accused the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and the Director General of Budget Office, Ben Akabueze of undermining the anti-corruption efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Oke stated these on Wednesday during budget defence by the Auditor General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu.

The lawmaker said the underfunding of the OAuGF is a deliberate attempt to stifle the capacity of the agency to fight corruption.

The lawmaker rejected the N62 million allocated for capital projects for the agency, as against the N2.5 billion proposed by the committee.

He described the underfunding of the agency as “very unfortunate”.

“We have seen the determination of the lieutenants of Mr President, particularly the Minister of Finance and the DG Budget Office to undermine Mr President in his determination to wage war against corruption in the land. Otherwise, why would you allocate several billions to ancillary institutions and you are giving N62 million to the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation to fund capital (projects) – a constitutional office?” Mr Oke said.

Speaking further, Mr Oke said the Budget Office violated the principle of procurement act with the slashing of the budget of the agency while allocating billions to agencies “that are not doing anything”.

“Budget Office violated the principle of Procurement Act and now reduced the capital requirement of this agency to N62m – reduced their overhead by N3bn – but gave (other) agencies of the government that are doing virtually nothing billions of naira. There is no other way to tell Mr President that his lieutenants are working against him,” he said.

To this effect, the committee resolved to summon the minister, Mr Akabueze, and the Accountant General of the Federation, Okolieaboh Sylva to appear before it and explain the slash.

“Minister of Finance, the DG Budget, the Accountant-General of the Federation – the three of them – should cause appearance before this committee, to come and tell Nigerians why they are undermining the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation,” he ruled.