Civil Servants More Corrupt Than Politicians – Senate Panel Declares

The Senate Public Accounts Committee(SPAC) has declared that its investigations so far revealed that civil servants are more corrupt than the political class. The Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide stated this in Abuja. The Senate Panel, which is the only standing committee of the red chamber recognised by the Nigerian constitution, is currently scrutinising the report of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) from 2015 to 2018. The AuGF report was based on the audit carried out on the accounts of federal ministries,(MDAs) department and agencies. He said, “Let me say this, we are in a clime where accusations are quick to be made, where people are quick to condemn, particularly against the political class. Findings by our committee have revealed that the public wealth stolen from the system were not stolen by politicians. We have uncovered billions of naira stolen from the accounts of the MDAs. How many politicians have that kind of money. The permanent secretaries, directors general and executive secretaries of the MDAs are the accounting officers. SPAC had been able to establish a clear case of “institutional corruption being perpetuated by the MDAs.” Those agencies, particularly those that has to do with non payment of taxes are usually indicted by the Office of the Auditor General when they erred.”