The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has criticized the use of “papers for accounting” instead of computer system by the Office of Accountant General of the Federation.
The Chairman of the Committee, James Faleke was left fuming as the representatives of the OAGF could not provide the information required by the committee during the hearing on the 2023-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
The Director of Federation Account in OAGF, Muhammed Saleh appeared before the committee with paper documents containing outdated information.
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), one of the agencies that appeared before the committee claimed to have remitted N1.5 billion, however, Mr Saleh claimed that N27 million is the update in their books.
But representatives of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission disputed the figure presented by the OAGF.
Reacting to the use of papers, Mr Faleke said; “ You are using analogue because you issued them the receipts; you gave them the treasury receipt,” he said.
“The problem you even have is that your receipts are handwritten. It should be automatically generated. You as the director of FAAC sitting down here should be with your laptop. If I ask you a question you just point, show me and tell me what it is,” he said.
Sada Soli, a member of the committee, said the use of analogue system is responsible for the revenue leakages in the country.
“My chairman, still at this age, the office of the Accountant-General like you said they are writing handwritten receipts. It is in the same office that IPPIS is compromised. Which is in the court of law today. I think the office of the accountant-general must wake up,” Mr Soli said.
In his ruling, Mr Faleke said the OAGF should automate its accounting system.