Ogun State House of Assembly has warned that any government official who refused to answer auditor’s query will be sanctioned appropriately in line with the public service rules. The Chairman, House Committee on Public Account, Hon. Abiodun Akovonyon gave the warning while conducting checks on the 2011 audited account of 10 Local Government Councils in the State.
Hon. Akovonyon noted that the refusal to answer auditor’s query was a serious offence and a gross misconduct in the service, urging the Auditor General for the Local Government to always take a second look into financial queries raised to determine if there were cases of inflated or over-payment cost. Leading other members including Honourables Israel Jolaoso, Victor Fasanya, Wilfred Allen-Taylor, Harrison Adeyemi and Akanbi Bankole during the exercise, Akovoyon explained that the check being conducted on the account books of the councils was a constitutional responsibility and not an attempt to witch-hunt or intimidate anyone. At the end of the exercise, one Mr. Johnson Ogunlesi from Ikenne Local Government was asked to return the sum of N318,600 to the council’s treasury as he was found to have inflated the cost of producing an annual report. In the same vein, the committee directed the Local Government Service commission to issue queries to all officials who failed to respond to various queries issued on them since last August. In their reactions, Local Government officials in attendance including Heads of Local Government Administration, (HOLGA), Directors and others argued that Chairmen and Supervisors should be invited to observe proceedings in subsequent exercises.
Via: Ogun State Government - Official Press Release