Will the National Assembly, whose leadership has been indicted in the damning audit report submitted to it on Monday by the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), have the courage to do a thorough job?

Can they be the judge in their own case? These questions are to wait for answers until the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Salisu Maikasuwa lays the 16-page 2014 Audit Report on the table for consideration by both chambers of the National Assembly, through the Public Accounts Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives. Not a few Nigerians believe the lawmakers cannot do justice to the report. The National Assembly paid N9.5 billion without raising payment vouchers, an act classified as a violation of financial regulations.

The report contained unremitted government earnings involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), embassies and foreign missions, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), National Assembly and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) among others. According to the shocking report, the NNPC failed to remit N3.3 trillion to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its January 2014 meeting as required by law. Some $235.6 million, being accruals from gas sale to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) was allegedly not paid to the Federation Account but transferred to some ‘Coded’ Accounts that were not disclosed.

It was alleged in the report that N36.4 billion was diverted to ONSA instead of releasing the funds to Water Resources for the rehabilitation and construction of dams. The report also said there were no records to verify the billions of naira released to procure hand sanitizers for some strategic schools and the payment of subsidy on fertilizer in agricultural programmes. The CNA is expected to send the report to the Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker for consideration after which appropriate sanctions are expected to be recommended for any erring MDA to serve as deterrent.

Already, the AGF has written in the report that the leadership of the National Assembly erred by disbursing N9.5 billion without raising payment vouchers.