The Delta State House of Assembly’s Committee on Public Accounts has alleged multi-billion naira frauds in all 25 local government councils in the state.
Chairman of the committee, Mr. Denis Omovie who was speaking during the presentation of a report on the Review of Report of the Auditor General Local Governments on the accounts of the 25 local government councils from 2009 to 2011, disclosed the shock of committee members with the discovery that monies such as Withholding Tax, union dues, retention fees and PAYE were placed on the deposit accounts of the local governments s on behalf of the federal and state governments and other institutions.
“From 2009 to 2011, which is the period under review, these amounts were still outstanding and unremitted to the beneficiaries, to the total sum of N4.036bn,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker, it is of interest to note that these deposit balances were supposed to have been remitted to appropriate government bodies/agencies/individuals as they were monies collected at source for various types of services rendered to the local councils.”
The report further clarified that although local government records could be reflecting credit balances in the deposits, there was no identifiable cash representation on same deposit simply because of mismanagement of the fund.
Omovie lamented that the inauguration of various revenue committees have only impeded accountability for local government councils’ internally generated revenue, saying the revenue committees have suddenly become avenues for siphoning public funds.
