FG directs Accountant-General to complete forensic audit of varsities personnel

The Federal Government on Monday said it has directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to conclude the audit of teaching and non teaching staff of universities in the country.

The government said this would enable it verify all the claims of both teaching and non-teaching staff of universities up to 2018 so that any payment on earned allowances will be based on the actual entitlement of individuals.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono stated this in an interview on Monday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Echono was reacting to some of the demands made by the Non-Academic Staff Union and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities at a press conference on Friday.

The permanent Secretary said he has met with the Accountant-General and his team in order to speed up the process of auditing the teaching and non-teaching staff of universities.

He said: “We have advised the office of Accountant General to expedite action to conclude the forensic audit and verify all the claims of both teaching and non-teaching staff of universities up to 2018 very quickly so that any payment on earned allowances will be based on the actual entitlement of individuals. So that we will not do any projection.

“We recognise the fact that government may not have the funds to pay all the entitlement at once.

“We have officially communicated this to the Accountant -General. I have also met with him and his officials to convey this position.

“We expect them to work quickly to get the auditors to complete their work so that we will not have this situation where we are pushing forward and back.

On the 2009 agreement, he said: “Most of the issues in dispute have actually been resolved. We agreed that four meetings will be held to tidy up and have a full report for the record. So there are no major contentious issue in dispute.

“We are on the same page with the unions.”