* Minister laments zero release of 2025 capital budget
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has directed the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to submit the Federal Government’s financial statements covering 2023, 2024 and 2025 before October 2026.

The directive followed an investigative hearing with officials of the Accountant-General’s office and the Auditor-General for the Federation over persistent delays in the preparation and submission of consolidated financial statements of the Federation.

Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, expressed dissatisfaction over the continued non-compliance with statutory financial reporting obligations.

He noted that the Fiscal Responsibility Act requires the publication of audited consolidated financial statements not later than six months after the end of each financial year.

This is as the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has lamented the zero release of the capital component of the ministry’s 2025 budget.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim, on Monday appeared before the Senate Committee on Women Affairs to defend the ministry’s 2025 budget performance and proposal for 2026 fiscal year.

According to her, of the N89.8 billion approved for capital expenditure for 2025, only N394.8 million was released.

This, she said, represented 0.44 percent release with 99.56 percent not released, a development the minister attributed to non performance of the ministry’s capital projects.

Giving further breakdown of the allocation for the last fiscal year, Sulaiman-Ibrahim said of the N2.06 billion meant for personnel cost, N1. 9 billion was released, representing 96.58 percent. According to her, 99.9 percent of the released sum was spent on salaries and allowances.

For Overhead, the minister said N2.8 billion was approved for the ministry but that N471.5 million was released, representing 78 percent of the budgeted sum.

The minister however, disclosed that her ministry received N450 million intervention fund, which was expended on responding to the urgent needs of survivors of women, children and gender-based violations.

The ministry’s internally generated revenue for the year under review stood at N4.4 million, which was realised mainly from tender fees.

For 2026, the ministry tendered a total budget proposal of N134. 2 billion, with the following breakdown: capital – N131.2 billion; overhead – N810. 9 million; and personnel – N2.1 billion among others.

Salam warned that delays in financial reporting undermine fiscal discipline, weaken institutional credibility and negatively affect investor confidence.

According to him, timely and credible financial statements are critical to transparency and accountability in public finance management.

The Committee also queried the payment of N9.8 billion in 2024 to vendors of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).

The lawmakers raised concerns that the platform has yet to significantly improve reconciliation processes and financial reporting across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Representing the Accountant-General, Acting Director of Consolidated Accounts, Shaibu Sikiru, attributed the delays to operational challenges, including incomplete bank statements from the Central Bank of Nigeria and technical limitations of the GIFMIS platform.

He disclosed that the last comprehensive reconciliation of government accounts was conducted in 2022, despite the renewal of contracts with service providers to enhance system efficiency.

In his submission, Auditor-General for the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, said audit reports for recent years are being finalised for submission to the National Assembly, adding that certain constitutional and administrative gaps have contributed to delays in the auditing process.

Ruling after the hearing, the Committee directed both the Accountant-General and the Auditor-General to ensure full submission of all outstanding financial statements and audit reports before the October 2026 deadline, warning that failure to comply would attract legislative sanctions.