Senate Grills AGF Over N910 Billion MDAs Loan

The Senate has queried the Office of Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) over the failure to repay short-term loans given to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) from Special Funds Accounts totaling N910bn.

Naija News reports that the query comes after the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, made the discovery, following the submission of the 2017 Auditor General report.

According to the query, loans, and debts arising from Special Funds Accounts totaling N910.04bn showed that the balances remained unpaid throughout the year, although the loans were meant to be short-term.

But in its response, the Office of the AGF claimed that several letters had been written to the Minister of Finance to authorize the settlement of the loans granted against allocations of various MDAs affected.

The AGF office added that it had requested the minister to include the repayment of the loan in the 2017 budget.

The Senate Committee noted that there was a continuous abuse of the special funds by the executive as the withdrawals were continually made for political expediency outside the purpose for which the funds were meant.

The report read, “There is continuous abuse of the special funds by the executive as the withdrawals are continually made for political expediency outside the purpose for which the funds were meant.”

The Senate, therefore, ordered that all outstanding loans should be recovered by the AGF and evidence of recovery presented to the Auditor General and Senate Public Accounts Committee within 60 days.