Bauchi State MDAs, 2 committees operate 335 bank accounts – Report

No fewer than100 Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Bauchi State have been operating 335 banks accounts.
This was disclosed in a report by a committee set up by Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar to verify financial transactions carried out by Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the state submitted to the governor.
The 8-member committee was headed by Salihu Lukman Abubakar, an Economist and a Chartered Account ‎and has Isiaku Mua’zu as Secretary.
According to the Executive Summary of the report obtained by Daily Sun, the committee carried out its assignment in 10 weeks and it has interacted with officials of 100 MDAS and two committees.
The committee also examined 335 Bank Statements and related reconciliation statements‎, schedules of Cheques, lists of Dormant Bank Accounts from all the MDAs.
“Where the committee found the existence of a justifiable projects/programmes/assignment or payment, the bank balance related to it is classified as ‘committed’ i.e to be left for that purpose. Otherwise, all others are considered as ‘Uncommitted”
The report added that the 335 bank accounts have a combined total credit balance of N8,669,339360.14 and a Debit balance of N525,926.
It said that the five MDAs op‎erated a total of 96 Bank accounts.
A breakdown of the five MDAs indicated that the State Sub-Treasury operated 28 accounts; Office of the Accountant General,26; Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),23; Bauchi Investment Corporation,10 and the Bauchi State University which operated 9 accounts.
The report also showed that Dormant Accounts in 30 banks have a combined Credit balance of N26,065,269.63‎ and a Debit balance of N1,637,276.25.
It added that Dormant Accounts in Non-Operating banks have a Credit balance of N25,412,941.15 and a Debit of N421,530.73.
The combined bank balances of N8,669,339,360 according to the report‎ was classified as N5,417,026,472.20 as Committed while N3,266,831,175.50 was classified as Uncommitted.
The committee in its report observed that the operation of multiple‎ bank accounts by the MDAs led to multiple and heavy bank charges for the state government.