Zamfara Assembly accuses Finance Ministry of misappropriation

Zamfara State House of Assembly has accused the state Ministry of Finance of alleged irregularities and misappropriation of fund.
 
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Shamsudeen Hassan-Basko (APC, Talata-Mafara North), made the accusation while speaking when the ministry of Works and Transport defended its 2022 appropriation estimate at the assembly complex.
 
In a statement in Gusau on Tuesday by the Director General Press Affairs and Public Relations to the House, Mustafa Jafaru-Kaura said that the lawmaker accused the ministry for payment to some MDAs in the state more than what has been appropriated to them.
 
“My committee will invite Ministries of Budget & Economic Planning and Finance to ascertain the true situation of matter before passing the bill into law.
 
“The committee will also sanction officials of the State Transport Authority known as (State Mass Transit ) for failing to appear before the committee to defend its 2022 budget estimate.
 
“We are going to allocate zero kobo to the authority for the 2022 fiscal year.
 
“The committee chairman wondered why a whole ministry honoured the house invitation for budget defence but a parastatal under it failed to appear to defend its budget”, he said.
 
The lawmaker decried the attitude of some MDAs for not remitting the taxes generated to the state Treasury Single Account (TSA).
 
“Any revenue generating MDA failed to remit taxes to the state government, my committee will allocate zero to such agency”, he explained.