The Senate has indicted the Office of Accountant General of the Federation over failure to repay short-term loans given to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies from Special Funds Accounts totalling N910bn.

The lawmakers discovered this after a thorough investigation by the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, following the submission of the 2017 Auditor General report.

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

But, the Office of the Accountant General in its response claimed that several letters had been written to the Minister of Finance to authorise 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 Urhoghide-led 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 executive as the withdrawals are continually made for political expediency outside the purpose which the funds were meant.”

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

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