We Have Been Increasing OAGF’s Budget In The Last Four Years – Akabueze

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, says the Federal Government has been increasing the budget of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF) in the last four years.

He stated this on Thursday when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme – Sunrise Daily.

“If you go and look at the trajectory over the last four years, every single year we have made some increase in the budget for the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

“Even in periods where across board, agencies have seen lower budget; over the last four years, year after year, we have seen an increase in the budget of the office of the AGF,” the Budget Office chief said.

He was reacting to the reports that the fund allocated to the OAGF was inadequate, stressing that other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were also affected.

According to Akabueze, there is no single agency that can say it has an adequate budget and it is a result of the present situation in the country.

He also condemned the allegation by some lawmakers that the OAGF was deliberately underfunded to prevent it from discharging its duty and uncover all illegal activities and looting going on in the country.

The Budget Office chief, however, stated that it was within their rights to alter the provision that has been made, adding that they have not done so.

He said, “I think that is patently an unfair statement and in any case, what we sent to the National Assembly is a budget proposal and year-in-year-out, the National Assembly intervenes to alter the provisions made for different MDAs.

“There is not a single agency that will tell you that their budget is enough because overall, the total budget is a fraction of the size of the budget that we should be operating, but we are limited, we are constrained by revenues, by inadequate resources.”