The Bursar of the University of Ibadan, Michael
Alatise, on Thursday told members of the House of Representatives Committee on
Public Accounts that the university could not submit its audited accounts to
the Auditor-General of the Federation after its auditor went blind.
Alatise disclosed this in Abuja when he appeared before
the committee headed by Hon. Oluwole Oke, investigating the refusal of
Non-Treasury Funded and Partially Funded agencies to render their audited accounts
covering the period 2014 to 2018 to the Auditor-General of the Federation.
He, however, noted that the school had engaged the
services of a new auditor to audit the account.
The bursar said the auditor completed the 2009/2010
account, stressing that the newly engaged auditor had problems with the
account, adding that they wanted to interact with him; “that was where the
lacuna came in.”
Alatise stated: “We have a new auditor. It was the
new external auditor that was having problems; he had to go to the old auditor’s
house several times because there were some static figures that needed to be
cleared. The document came to the audit committee of the council several times,
so it delayed the work of the current auditor."
However, the committee members, who were taken
aback, frowned at the excuse, saying they assumed the university was dealing
with a firm and not an individual.
The lawmakers said the principal partner of the audit
firm going blind should not truncate the process as there were other staff
members in the organisation.
Oke said: "That somebody went blind does not
mean that the firm will go into extinction. It can’t, and sincerely speaking,
it is not palatable that from 2014 to date, the University of Ibadan does not
have an account with the Auditor-General. No way! You won’t get money in the
next budgetary allocation.
"If you have an audited account signed and
ratified in place, why did you need a blind man to take over from there?
Besides, you are not dealing with him as a person; you are dealing with a firm.
So, he has a partner, he has workers.
"And for UI to engage such a firm... Okay, let
is conduct a (Know Your Customer) Let us know who the firm is. Let us
investigate the firm. Let us know the partners and workers in that firm."
Another member of the committee noted: "If for
any reason you renew, it is a one-year renewal. This university cannot be
talking about 2014 issues that have been there since 2009. The man's tenure had
expired in 2008 and if for any reason you had to renew for him, it also expired
in 2009.
"So, if the man went blind in 2008 and then,
you renewed for him in 2009, and then the firm had issues and you still renewed
for him in 2010, and till 2020 you are still renewing for a man who was blind
in 2008, I think we should not be taken for a joke."
But responding, Alatise said: "Candidly
speaking, we are on a hot seat. I wish that the bursary team would watch this
video live. As a bursar, I have been worried about accounts."
However, the Committee stepped the enquiry down and
opted for a full investigation of the finances of the university.
No comments:
Post a Comment