Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate Public Accounts Committee yesterday uncovered how 558 federal ministries, departments, and agencies failed to provide the classification of intangible assets valued at N969bn in the 2019 budget.
The intangible asset is not physical. They include patents, trademarks, and copyrights, while tangible assets include land, vehicles, equipment, and inventory.
Financial assets such as stocks and bonds, which derive their value from contractual claims, are also considered tangible assets.
The revelation was contained in the 2019 annual report of the Auditor-General of the Federation currently being scrutinised by the Senate Public Accounts Committee.
The meeting where the discovery was made was chaired by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia.
Members were shocked about the huge amount of money categorised as intangible assets in the 2019 budget in the Auditor General’s report.
The report read, “Audit observed from the review of notes 36 and 36A (Intangible) to the FGB Consolidated Financial Statement (CFS).
“The Sum of N969bn was recognised under notes 36A as Intangible Assets without a schedule showing the classification /nature of the intangible assets contract to the provision of IPSAS 31.
LP passes vote of confidence on national chairman
“There was no disclosure to enable the audit to confirm which of intangible Assets has finite and infinite life, a bad for a determination whether amortization should be or not.”
The representative of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shuaibu Sikiru in his response before the Senate Committee said the template will be re-designed to accommodate this observation in subsequent years.
Among the affected 558 agencies are the State House, Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), National Population Commission (NPC), and the Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan.
Others are the Federal College of Forestry, Jos, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Nigerian Police Academy, Wudil.
They also included the Federal Civil Service Commission, National Security Adviser, Federal Ministry of Interior, Nigerian Immigration Service, Federal Fire Service, Police Formation and Commands’ headquarters, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Federal government Staff, Housing Loans Board, Federal Training Centre , Ilorin; Office of the Economic Adviser to the President, and the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
Also affected were the Voice of Nigeria, Nigerian Film Corporation, National Theatre, Federal Ministry of Information headquarters, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, and many others.
