Follow Us on Google
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has summoned the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over alleged N100billion infractions, as contained in a report the Auditor-General for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils.
The PAC chairman, Bamidele Salam, who confirmed that the panel has formally received the audit report, said three separate letters have been issued to the chairmen of the six Area Councils and their Directors of Finance, inviting them to respond to the audit queries.
Salam explained that the Area Councils were also indicted for failure to audit and submit their financial accounts for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, contrary to statutory requirements.
Other News
Consequently, the lawmaker noted that the six council chairmen have opportunity to appear before PAC next Wednesday, stating that the panel would be compelled to invoke its powers to order for their arrests, if they fail to honour the invite.
The Sun gathered that the six Area Councils, including Abaji, Abuja Municipal, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali, were allegedly indicted for various infractions.
The report for the year ended 31 December 2021, submitted to the Committee, indicated alleged cases of unremitted tax and VAT deductions, failure to update Fixed Asset Registers, and expenditures yet to be properly accounted for across the councils.
Audit findings for the year 2022 and part of 2023 also alleged multiple infractions of financial regulations such as understatement of actual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), unauthorised assets disposal, non disclosure of statutory revenue and non remittance of withholding tax to appropriate authorities.
