SAFAR 13 1431 A.H.
THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2010.
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Stakeholders reject Bankole’s bill
Stakeholders yesterday rejected a bill for an Act to establish the National Office of Government Performance, Audit and Accountability.
The bill, sponsored by Speaker Dimeji Bankole, seeks to audit the accounts of all federal statutory corporations and commissions, among others and then report to the National Assembly.
The stakeholders' rejection came at a public hearing on the bill, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.
In his presentation, Prof. Sylvester Monye, Secretary, National Planning Commission (NPC), described the bill as unnecessary, as it would only duplicate functions of existing bodies.
He said that bodies like the AGF, NPC, Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and the Attorney-General’s Office were already performing functions proposed by the bill.
Monye, who accused drafters of the bill of lifting from the NPC Act, said that it was not properly researched, as it did not take into consideration, many laws that needed to be amended.
He noted that the proposed office would amount to waste of time and scarce resources, through increases in the ratio on overhead, without necessary returns to government's coffers.
Monye explained that the key component of Vision 20: 20 had taken care of the issue of monitoring and evaluation of government projects.
``We expect that the views of stakeholders will be taken into account. I feel there is no need for this bill,’’ he said.
He said that there was nothing in the bill that suggested a gap that needed to be filled by the creation of the office.
``The bill should strengthen existing provisions rather than creating a new body. We will support the bill if there are gaps,’’ he said.
Mr Gabriel Ogunshina, Acting Auditor-General of the Federation, opposed the bill, calling on the National Assembly to expunge all laws that were repugnant to accountability and transparency.
``It is important that all those constitutional provisions, which constitute clogs in the wheel of accountability and transparency should be expunged through appropriate legislation by the National Assembly,’’ he said.
He suggested that steps should instead, be taken, to strengthen the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Ogunshina maintained that if the Office of the Auditor-General was empowered by the removal of certain restrictions, its performance in terms of ensuring accountability, probity and transparency would be high.
Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, Accountant-General of the Federation, advised the National Assembly to engage itself in making laws that would strengthen the principle of separation of powers, rather than weakening it.
