FRC denies permitting NSCDC to use independent audit firms.

FRC denies permitting NSCDC to use independent audit firms.

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) yesterday denied that it insisted the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have its annual financial and audited reports prepared by independent accounting and audit firms.

FRC Chairman Victor Muruako said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and was responding to reports that the NSCDC claimed it had such liberty.

The agency chairman was queried about the situation at the NSCDC since government agencies usually have workers posted to them from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AcGF) and that of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF).

Committee member, Oluwole Oke, had questioned the rationale behind FRC’s insistence on financial statements prepared by independent accounting and audit firms, considering the cost of hiring such professional services, when there were competent in-house workers to do the job.

But Muruako said there was no such condition operational at the commission.

The RFC chairman said the agency would accept financial and audit statements from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), if they were prepared by relevant in-house workers, as contained in the Act setting up the commission.

He said: “As chairman of the FRC, I’m not aware of the commission insisting on independent accounting and audit firms preparing the financial statements of MDAs before they could be acted upon by the commission.

“The FRC does not operate outside the Act setting it up, which is specific about the preparation of financial documents and reports.”

Committee Chairman James Faleke advised the NSCDC to review its licensing and yearly renewal fees upwards for Private Guard Companies (PGCs) to increase its revenue generation capacity, as revenue was needed to implement the 2024 budget.

NSCDC’s Deputy Commandant-General Nwinyi Nwokuche said there were about 1,300 PGCs registered in the country with 400 of them in Lagos alone.

Faleke called for a full register of PGCs operating in the country, their full addresses, amounts paid as licence and renewal fees over the years, to give the committee proper insights into their operations.