BY ORJIME MOSES,
The Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), a civil society organisation (CSO) aimed at fostering public accountability in Nigeria has alleged that N9.7billion is yet to be accounted for out of N17billion meant for the implementation of 32 projects in 17 states of the country including the FCT, according to data from 2017 Audit Report of the Federation.
The organisation stated that 32 projects worth N17billion meant for implementation in 17 states of the federation including the federal capital territory (FCT) were awarded to various contractors, however, about N9.7billion is not accounted for, adding that the unaccounted funds when compared to similar publication on 2016 Audit Report of the federation showed an increase of N6.8billion (70.1%), an indication that accountability in the public funds in Nigeria is getting worse.
The executive director of PLSI, Olusegun Elemo said this yesterday at the stakeholders’ sensitization workshop on 2017 Audit Report of the Federation of Nigeria in Abuja.
He said that Nigeria must commit to ensuring that public funds are not just spent but also properly account for.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari has laid be-fore the National Assembly last Thursday the 2021 budget estimate of more than N13trillion and nobody is asking the big question of how to ensure that this huge funds is efficiently, effectively and economically utilized.
“The foundation of all our problems today is lack of accountability.
“What young people are protesting about today is not just the failure of policing system or SARS but education or health care, no efficient transportation system and all these and many other challenges are due to the lack of accountability in the utilization of public resources,” he noted.
