Reps direct status inquiry into NIMASA accounts
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday directed a status inquiry into the accounts of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) over the agency’s claim of not having management accounts between 2012 and 2017.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Wole Oke, gave the directive during an investigative hearing into the presentation of audit reports of ministries, departments and agencies.
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Questioning the director of finance of NIMASA, the committee chairman stated that “you have management accounts and you have audited accounts. Are you saying you do not have management accounts for 2012 till 2017?
“Get the two right; the management account is a document of NIMASA itself and that is the document and other primary accounts that you avail your auditor to vet, and form their opinion.
“It will be very embarrassing for an agency such as NIMASA not to have management accounts from 2012. Then what are you doing there?’’
Rep. Oke also queried the agency’s non-remittance of its audited reports between 2015 and 2018 to the office of the auditor-general, adding that the non-compliance by the agency to remit its audited reports stifled efforts in nation building.
He also expressed disappointment in the failure of the Director-General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, to appear before the committee.
Considering the absence of Peterside and the conflicting reports on the agency’s audited accounts, the lawmaker ruled that “the committee has agreed to place NIMASA on full status inquiry which includes performance audit and project audit.
“We would carry out a full holistic investigation and find out what went wrong and the investigation would show who is negligent.’’
The NIMASA management was led by the Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, who apologized for the behaviour of the NIMASA chief executive, assuring that the disrespect of the director-general would be looked into.
