The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has expressed concern over the low implementation of the capital component of the 2024 budget.

Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam, stated the position of the Committee when the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs Shakirat Madein, appeared before it on Wednesday.

According to the Committee, implementation of the budget was only 25 per cent which it said was not helping the attainment of the desired economic growth of the country.

Rep. Salam said it was regrettable that from recent studies conducted in Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda, Nigeria was still lagging behind in submission and consideration of audit reports largely due to the non-submission of financial statement by the Accountant General’s office as required by law.

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He also lamented the submissions of the Accountant General on the low revenue remittances by many Government Owned Enterprises.

The PAC Chairman emphasised on the need for stricter measures to block revenue leakages through automation of the processes and regular auditing.

The Committee therefore charged the Accountant General to submit the 2022 consolidated financial statement of the Federal Government to the Auditor General of the Federation in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution.

It also asked the Accountant General, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior to immediately resolve all outstanding issues on the non automation of revenue collections from Foreign missions in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the process.

According to the committee Chairman, the 2021 Auditor General’s report which was recently submitted to the National Assembly will receive accelerated consideration immediately after the passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill currently before the House.

In her remark earlier, the Accountant General of the Federation attributed the delay in the submission of the consolidated financial statement to a lack of sufficient data of government revenue from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

She assured that efforts were at advanced stage to get the CBN submit necessary information, giving an undertaking to conclude the exercise within two months.