The Ex-clerk informed that while in PAC, he wrote about 200 reports and over 2000 recommendations none of which were considered.
A former Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr. Patrick Giwa, has revealed that reports of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly have not been considered in 25 years.
Giwa, the pioneer Clerk of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, made this known during the inaugural meeting of the PAC of the 10th House on Thursday.
He said the PAC of the 10th House has the responsibility to make sure their report is considered.
“I am telling you fellow Nigerians, the PAC report has never been considered in the past 25 years. They check out reports every year but they are not considered.
“I was at the forefront of drafting the model of the report for Public Accounts Committee. In fact, it was my submission that was adopted by the West African Council of Public Accounts Committees because those people were backward and we were giving them leadership.
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“But when we go to meetings, they ask us to give reports on how we performed, myself as the clerk, the chairmen PAC of both the Senate and the House as well as members from the House, would just be looking at ourselves. Sometimes they talk to us to our face and ask, Nigeria, where is your report? We come back to Nigeria with shame. For 25 years the National Assembly has not considered PAC reports.
“Members of PAC do so much work. The committee is always committed to doing the work but at the end of the day, they are not considered. Because I am the pioneer clerk of the committee, I make sure I do my reports. That was the training I gave my staff so, they will not be blamed if reports are not considered.
“I did more than 200 reports and more than 2000 recommendations before I left PAC, but none of them were considered,” he lamented.
Further, Giwa advocated for support for the Office of the Auditor General to carry out their mandate, adding that PAC has for a very long time, fought to improve the welfare of the Auditor General’s office.
“When they go to some agencies, they don’t even want to see them. I had a case where they were even attacked because they wanted to check the accounts of the government. So, the committee has a responsibility to make sure the office is taken care of and given funds to perform. It took PAC years to fight for fairly good treatment for the office by the government,” he said.
The PAC Chairman of the House, Rep. Bamidele Salami (Osun, PDP) assured that the committee will deliver on its mandate.
“I urge us to buckle up. This is the busiest committee of the House. This time we would work harder, smarter, and in a manner that will ensure we recover quite a whole lot of ground. There are lots of expectations from the leadership of the House and from Nigerians,” he said.
