In 2019, the Nigerian Senate spent about N3.6 billion that it could not account for, an audit report has revealed.
There was also no evidence to show what the funds were used for.
The Senate also failed to remit taxes to the appropriate authorities in the same year.
According to the report, several deductions were made from the salaries of staff.
These deductions were meant to be Withholding Tax (WHT), Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE), but these funds were not remitted to the relevant agencies.
Details of these missing funds are contained in the annual report of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) for 2019.
The Senate is one of the many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government indicted and queried by the Auditor-General for incessant violation of extant rules, some of which include non-retirement of personal advances within a financial year and grant of cash advances above the approved limit and payments without vouchers.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how their counterparts at the House of Representatives also diverted over N5.2 billion in the same year.
The Auditor-General, in the report, had said these financial offences could translate to loss of government funds and/or diversion of public funds. And the discrepancies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at the Senate.
There was no response to the queries and concerns raised by the Auditor-General either by the Senate, House or the management of the National Assembly.
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