The Senate on Tuesday pledged to publish the names of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government that refused to defend queries raised on the mismanagement of their finances.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, made the pledge following the presentation of the report of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts (SPAC) on the 2015 report of the Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF).
Lawan said, “This is one of our major responsibilities as a parliament, to hold the executive to account and whoever is given the responsibility and the trust of running any agency with public funds must be accountable to the parliament on behalf of the people.
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“You have indicated a certain number of MDAs who failed to come to the committee after invitation.
“I want you to go through your documents, the invitation letters or the reminders, this Senate will publish the names of these agencies for the public to know.
“This Senate will insist that any public servant or civil servant that is given public fund for public good and has questions to answer and refuse to appear to answer should have no business in government because all of us are supposed to be accountable to the people.”
The Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, had pointed out that seven MDAs refused to appear before the panel to defend the queries against their agencies.
Urhoghide identified the agencies that flouted the directive as Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Federal Fire Service (FFS).
Others are the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Ministry of Police Affairs and Federal Ministry of Information and Culture (Information Sector).
