BY LEVI JOHNSON
Yaba College of Technology, YABATECH may forfeit its 2020 budget allocation over failure to submit its five years audited reports to the Auditor General of the Federation.
Consequently, the House of Representatives has on Friday threatened to withhold the 2020 budget allocation.
Investigations by the House Committee on Public Accounts at an Investigative Hearing on Friday discovered that the management of the institution failed to render the accounts since 2014 as required by law.
The Rector, Obafemi Omokungbe, who led the institution’s management appeared before the Public Accounts Committee at the resumed “Public hearing on the refusal of Non-Treasury Funded and Partially Funded Agencies to Render their Audited Accounts covering the period 2014-2018 to the Auditor-General of the Federation.”
Omokungbe said when he assumed office in 2018, he discovered that the accounts were not ready. He explained on the need for an external auditor to complete the work after which the accounts would be transmitted to the Auditor General of the Federation.
Speaking after the submission, Chairman of the Committee, Oluwole Oke described the submission by YABATECH Rector as unacceptable and against financial regulations guiding civil service.
The committee ruled that, if they failed to comply, the National Assembly would have no option than to withhold the 2020 budgetary allocation to the Institution to serve as a deterrent to other defaulting federal government MDAs.
YABATECH was given 30 days to prepare the accounts and remit to the Auditor General of the Federation and bring the proof of full compliance before the Committee at a later date.
It would be recalled that the University of Ibadan was also placed on status enquiry by the committee and also risks losing their 2020 budget allocation over a claim made by its Bursar, that their auditor got ” blind” while auditing their accounts.
