The House of Representatives has mandated its committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation to commence public hearing on the allegation of fragrant violation of the provisions of Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
The House specifically accused the BPE of failure to provide audited accounts for the financial years 2012-2015 and non remittance of its operating surplus of N81.8m in year 2007.
Member representing Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen while moving the motion on Wednesday said that the action of the BPE contravened section 22, subsections 1 and 2 of the Public Enterprises Act of 1999, which compels the Bureau to keep proper accounts and cause them to be audited, in accordance with the guidelines supplied by the Auditor-General of the Federal.
The House also berated the Auditor-General of the Federation for not living up to his constitutional duties of being a watchdog over public accounts in all government agencies.
“A grievous breach of the law for many years by an essential government institution like the BPE has exposed the failure of the Auditor-General of the Federation to live up to his constitutional duties of auditing public accounts to ensure accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility”, Hon. Abbas said.
The Lawmaker also submitted that “the conduct of the BPE lacked probity, transparency and accountability and is a violation of section 48 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, which imposes obligation on the Federal Government to ensure full and timely disclosure and wide publication of all transactions and decisions involving public revenues and expenditures and their implication for the finance of the federation”.
In his ruling, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara charged the committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation to organise an interface with the BPE on the accusation and report back to the House within 4 weeks.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise was established in 1999 to restructure, through Privatisation and Commercialisation, moribund and underperforming public utilities to benefit present and future generations of Nigeria.
Credit: dailypost
