The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Lagos State House of Assembly has started the probe of the 2019 Auditor-General’s Statutory Report on the Accounts of the State’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Nurudeen Saka-Solaja, told journalists in Lagos that the purpose of the exercise was to seek clarifications on outstanding queries targeted at achieving improved service delivery.
He explained that the PAC is a statutory establishment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and an important instrument of checks, probity and accountability by the legislature.
The chairman adds, “Sections 125(2) and 129(1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended empowers the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly to ‘summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other things in his possession or under his control and examine him as witness and require him to produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, subject to all just exceptions’ during the deliberation and consideration exercise of the audited report of the accounts of MDAs submitted by the Auditor-General of the state.”
He continued, “Accordingly, in consonance with the need for effective and best practices in the pursuit of its statutory objectives, the Public Accounts Committee (State) of the Lagos State House of Assembly today commenced the deliberations and considerations of the audited report of the State Auditor-General on the accounts of the Lagos State government for the year ended, 31st December 2019.”
