The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives, Mr. Bamidele Salam, has expressed concern over the alleged refusal by ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to render accounts of over a quarter of a trillion naira in public expenditures from 2020/2021.

Salam, who spoke to reporters ahead of the upcoming National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance (NCPAFG), scheduled to hold from Sunday, 6th to Thursday, 10th July 2025 in Abuja, disclosed that the finding was based on the Auditor General’s reports within the aforementioned period.

He explained that the public expenditures within the period remain unaccounted for with high incidents of unauthorised virements, growing numbers of audit queries each fiscal year, and the reported cases of more than 60% of MDAs persistently failing to comply with financial regulations.

These trends, he said, if left unchecked, will continue to erode public trust, undermine sustainable national development, and weaken our democratic institutions.

Acknowledging that some progress has been made over the years, and particularly the notable reforms under the current administration, he stated that entrenched systemic challenges, which include limited full-cycle audit implementation, high-level institutional financial leakages, a skewed and opaque public financial reporting system, and widespread non-enforcement of financial protocols across MDAs at all levels of government, still subsist.

The Osun-born lawmaker posited that if Nigeria is to reap optimally the full benefits of the ongoing fiscal governance reforms initiated by the Tinubu-led administration, it behoves stakeholders to seize the opportunity of the conference as a platform for high-level national policy dialogue for galvanisation of commitment to transparency and accountability.

He stated that stakeholders must leverage the opportunity of the unique conference, which would be graced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to deepen collaboration among Public Accounts Committees, especially at the sub-national levels, Audit Institutions, Regulatory Bodies, and Anti-Corruption Agencies.

He added that the NCPAFG, which would serve as a prelude to the Annual Conference of the West African Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAPAC) later in the year following Nigeria’s emergence as the winner of the hosting rights for the 2025 edition, has been deliberately structured to deliver strong institutional value.

He stated that at the end of the conference, among tangible outcomes expected are a significant reduction in unaccounted expenditures from over ₦300 billion to less than ₦1 billion in the next fiscal year 2026; a drop in the number of audit queries and the rate of non-compliance with financial regulations from over 60% to less than double digits at 9% through rigorous capacity-building development.

It includes a measurable significant improvement in Nigeria’s Fiscal Governance Health Index (FGHI) across all levels of government through enhanced transparency measures using digital technology tools for sustainable national development; issuing a High-Level Broad Stakeholders’ Communique that will outline actionable policy, legislative, and institutional recommendations required to chart a new course for fiscal transparency and sustainable development.

He added that among the expected legacy outcomes are the development of a National Blueprint for Digital Audit and Financial Management, and establishing Nigeria’s National Fiscal Governance Working Group, a multi-stakeholder body that would be tasked with sustaining reforms and institutionalising good fiscal governance practices nationwide.

Accordingly, we are pleased to announce that the Conference is expected to have the following Distinguished Guests:

Other dignitaries expected at the conference were the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima; the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen and Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while delivering the Keynote Address, which will be delivered by Mr. Edwin W. Harris Jr., Director General, Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA)