107 agencies affectedToll-gates may return in 2012SHOCKING revelations came at the Senate yesterday as senior officials of the Federal Government gave account of their stewardship and impediments to the effective performance of their ministries and agencies.One of the rude shocks came from the report of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), which revealed that 107 federal agencies had never be audited since they were set up.The Senate threatened to work with the Executive arm of government to ensure the sack of the helmsmen of the defaulting agencies over dereliction of duty.And from next year, Nigeria may again begin the payment of tolls on federal roads as the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, said that tollgates would be back on the highways from next year.Also, Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Downstream, said she could not give details of the operations of the fuel subsidy scheme until the documents were ready.Senate President David Mark, who decried the poor audit in the federal bureaucracy, expressed shock that the helmsmen of the affected agencies had not put national interest above personal considerations.He said yesterday that the non-audit of the accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) was impending the performance of the government.Mark threatened that the Senate would no longer tolerate a situation where few individuals through indolence and indifference to their duties derailed the nation's progress.According to the AGF's report, only 70 agencies were up to date with their yearly accounts, 315 others in varying periods of arrears while 107 had not submitted their yearly accounts since they were set up.Mark said: 'I think that those in charge of these 107 agencies truly want to lose their jobs. I know it is not a military regime and that the President cannot get up and dismiss people but there are procedures and processes through which people can lose their jobs if they would not obey simple rules and regulations. If they cannot conform to what is right, then they should be shown the way out because this government is not going to wait for eternity for people to continue doing things the way they want.'If they cannot do the right thing, then they have no business being in government because there are so many Nigerians who are prepared to work,' he said.Mark also warned that the agencies might hinder the presentation of the 2012 budget. 'If these 107 agencies do not submit theirreport, then they are jeopardising the presentation of the national budget.'The Senate boss stressed that the Auditor-General (AG) was supposed to submit yearly reports to the National Assembly but could not recall any attempt by the Senate to debate such reports from that office. 'I have been in the Senate long enough to know if this has been done but I know that it has not been done. Why it has not been done nobody can explain but from now onwards, it must be done.'He said when the reports were eventually submitted, they would be reviewed and evaluated by the Senate's relevant committees and made public.Mark however urged the AG to address the situation whether the Executive releases budgetary allocations or not to it.'I think the office of the AG must be looked after. We must provide for it, it doesn't matter whether the Executive implements the budget or not. Anything that is appropriated tothe office of the AGF must be released,' he stressed.He said the Act setting up the office of the AG was outdated and should be repealed. 'We also have a responsibility to provide legislation that will ensure that the AGF's work is not impeded so that he can submit his yearly report. We mustdo our part by repealing this Ordinance Act.'In his contribution, the committee's chairman, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, noted that there were many statutory corporations, commissions and agencies that were not up to date with their yearly accounts and audited reports.He stated that the National Assembly depends on such reports to check possible misappropriation and lose of public funds.'In the past, the Senate Public Accounts Committee tried to use the carrots to encourage defaulting agencies to submit their accounts and reports. It is obvious now, that there is need to use the stick to enforce compliance.'The Senate Committee on Power and Steel Development also directed the Minister of Mines and Steel, Musa Sada, to dissolve the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of Ajaokuta Steel for its roles in the sale of the company's equipment.The management team was set up in 2008 after the concession agreement was terminated to oversee the company for six months.The IMC sent a proposal to the government, seeking for N430 million to revive the company. Following the government's inability to raise the funds, it was given the mandate to sell off equipment considered obsolete to raise the funds.Sada however said that when he first came into office as Minister in May 2010, he stopped the sale and ordered a technical audit of the company.He said the IMC had so far sold equipment from Ajaokuta worth N58 million of the projected N430 million before it was directed to discontinue the exercise.The Chairman of the Senate panel, Philip Aduda, asked the minister to immediately dissolve the IMC, but Sada said IMC had raised issues of jurisdiction with the assertion that it was created by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).'We are mandating you to report to FEC that the IMC should be disengaged and let a more realistic management team be set up for the running of the place. We don't understand how a management team set up to run for six months has been there for four years. That is not acceptable.'He said the Committee would seek an audience with President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the IMC was dissolved.Sada further said that the N1.2 billion request was necessary to set the rolling mills working and to tidy up the environment so that the machines would not go into obsolescence.Onolememen yesterday disclosed plans to reintroduce toll-gate collections across the federation with effect from 2012.At a meeting with the Senate Committee on Works, the minister said the proceeds would be channelled to road maintenance.Decrying the poor state of the nation's roads, he said it had translated to not only loss of lives but also in high cost of goods that are transported on them.'We have to raise a bill to introduce a policy that will gradually lead to the rehabilitation of our roads because it is one of the ways that can guarantee sustainable development of our road network. We realise that our road sector needs a major reformation effort.'The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Ayogu Eze, said the Upper House could compel the Executive to declare a state of emergency on the roads.Meanwhile, the fuel subsidy probe suffered a setback yesterday as Okonjo-Iweala told the Committee on Petroleum Downstream that she could not comment on issues bordering on the proposed policy and other related matters until the documents were ready and in the presence of the stakeholders at the probe.The committee, headed by Magnus Abe, adjourned the hearing to a yet-to-be disclosed date.
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