. Says service wide vote big
.We ‘ve no power to audit NNPC, CBN others says Auditor-General
ADEKUNLE ADESUJI, Abuja
The Senate has mandated its Committees on Banking and Insurance, Capital Market, ICT and Cyber Crimes to invite Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele to brief it on crypto currency transactions.
The resolution followed adoption of a motion by Sen. Gyang Istifanus (PDP-Plateau) at Thursday’s plenary on CBN’s decision to stop financial institutions from transacting in crypto currencies.
Gyang in his submission said the CBN directive to financial institutions was a follow up to its earlier directives of January 2017 and February 2018 which forbade banks from using, holding and trading in crypto currencies.
He said the decision was predicted on the need to safeguard the economy from adverse effects of crypto currency regime which were unregulated digital currencies issued by anonymous entities
He, however, said the CBN directive had attracted sharp reactions from Nigerians and had become a topical subject of national discuss.
He said crypto currency was both an opportunity and a threat hence the Senate had a responsibility to ensure that Nigeria and its citizens don’t miss out in the opportunities that crypto currency offered.
Contributing, Sen.Biodun Olujumi (PDP-Ekiti) said Nigeria did not create crypto currency and therefore could not possibly kill its operation.
She said Nigeria should not exclude itself from global technological development shaping the world.
“We can regulate and manage crypto currency transactions in Nigeria, we cannot kill it because some of our youths are working hard and doing great in technology,” she said.
Sen. Bassey Akpan (PDP Akwa Ibom) said Nigeria must not shy away from technological development, saying that the country must follow the trend in technology in the world.
President of Senate Ahmed Lawan, in his remark said that the CBN needed to educate Nigerians on crypto currency transactions especially its impacts on the economy and security.
He said the Senate wanted more information before it can be guided on next line of action, noting that the motion may not be the last on crypto currency as issues were still developing.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Thursday described service wide vote as the biggest fraud in Nigeria.
Service wide vote is contingency fund in the national budget under the control of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
In 2021, the federal government allocated N758 billion for service wide vote.
Speaking at the confirmation hearing of Acting Auditor-General of the Federation, Aghughu Adolphus, the Chairman of Committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo), said the fund was the biggest fraud because it is not audited.
“Service wide vote is the biggest fraud in Nigeria. It is meant to meet unseen situation, nobody gives account on service wide vote. Standing Committees of the Senate do not know anything about its spending,” he said.
The lawmaker told Mr Aghughu to brief the panel on how he would audit the fund.
“You should tell us how you are going to audit this service wide votes’, he said.
This is even as the Acting Auditor General of Federation told the lawmakers that its lacks constitutional power to audit Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other big spenders among the government agencies.
The nominee while responding on why the Auditor General has been unable to Audit big spender said, ‘’for the big spender, it is the constitution that has issue, by virtue of 1999 Constitution, we will just provide list of what we need for them and they will make their choice, if they decline to give to us, we have no power to compel them’’.
He assured the lawmakers of looking into issue of non -auditing of service wide votes.
Speaking on the challenges of the office, he said the workers of the agency are working under tedious condition as there is no enough staff in Auditor General’s office to carry out task of the agency.
He added that in some states, the agency has only three staff available and as result of this most of the duties are not carried out by the office.
He solicited for the full autonomy of the office of the Auditor General of the Federation so that it can able to carry out its task effectively lamenting that lack of fund halted efforts of the agency to acquire some software that will aid their work because it was struck out of the budget.
He however said that the agency is currently discussing with some donor agencies in order to acquire the software.
Some of the Senators who spoke during the screening expressed dissatisfaction with the poor funding of the Office of Auditor General of the Federation which is meant to tackle corruption.
The Chairman of the Committee specifically said that the Office of Auditor General has been designed to fail because there is no availability fund to carry out their task.
He submitted that the National Assembly will ensure that no agency appears for budget defence without responding to issue raised in the report of Auditor General of the Federation.
