The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a final summons to senior officials of the Federal Capital Territory’s six area councils over unresolved financial audit queries involving about ₦100 billion.
According to Premium Times, the committee directed personnel management and finance directors, alongside heads of audit, to appear on Wednesday, 14 October.
Committee chairman Bamidele Salam announced the decision in Abuja on Tuesday. He warned that failure to comply could attract sanctions under relevant service rules.
Earlier invitation went unanswered
The affected councils are Abaji, Abuja Municipal Area Council, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali.
Channels Television reported that their chairpersons had requested 22 September as the date for an earlier appearance but neither attended nor sent representatives.
Salam said repeated failures to appear and provide documents had prevented the committee from resolving the outstanding queries. The latest summons targets officials responsible for administration, finance and audit records.
Liabilities and expenditure under scrutiny
Premium Times reported that the 2021 audit identified approximately ₦7.65 billion in outstanding liabilities across the councils.
These included unremitted pension deductions, Pay As You Earn tax, Value Added Tax and withholding tax, alongside unpaid obligations to contractors.
The committee is also requesting explanations and supporting documents for ₦24.87 billion spent on personnel, overheads and capital projects in 2021.
Those figures describe different categories of financial queries. They should not be combined or treated as proof that the wider ₦100 billion under examination was stolen.
Asset records and later accounts questioned
According to Punch, the audit also raised concerns about the maintenance of fixed asset registers.
Gwagwalada was cited for records relating to non-current assets valued at ₦336 million. The concern was inadequate recording and updating, rather than an established finding that those assets had disappeared.
Salam also referred to alleged revenue understatement, unauthorised asset disposal, and tax-remittance failures in later audit material. He said the councils had not audited and submitted their accounts for 2023, 2024 and 2025. These remain matters requiring explanation and examination.
The reports cited do not include substantive responses from the six councils.
Trivane View
Public accountability requires officials to attend hearings and produce records that allow spending to be examined. The committee should also publish clear findings after considering those explanations. Unanswered audit queries deserve scrutiny, but conclusions about wrongdoing must follow the evidence.
