By Kingsley Omoyeni
In its bid to further improve transparency and accountability in the public financial management of Osun, the state government has presented the audited report for the periods ended 31st December, 2017 and 31st December, 2018.
The audit forum which was carried out through the office of the state Auditor-General in collaboration with State and Local Governance Reform (SLOGOR) Project was witnessed by the state Head of Service, Dr Oyebade Olowogboyega, Supervisor for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs Adebimpe Ogunlumade, SLOGOR Project Coordinator, Mr Yemi Ijidele among others.
Presenting the report on Monday in Osogbo, the state Auditor-General, Mr Folorunsho Adesina said the accounts of the state government for the periods under review have been audited under his direction in accordance with the provision of section 125, subsection 2 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended).
According to the Auditor-General, the total revenue for 2017 stood at #93,085,090,457.98 while the total revenue for the year 2018 stood at #99,307,720,655.30. He gave the recurrent expenditure which include Personel cost, overhead cost and consolidated revenue fund charges as #65,346,663,121.01 for 2017 and that of 2018 stood at #87,299,267,038.11.
On capital expenditure which include the administrative, economic, law and justice, regional and the social sectors, Mr Folorunsho gave the amount spent as #23,902,460,244.12 for 2017 while #18,362,848,250.35 was spent in 2018.
As at the year ended December 31st, 2017, the closing cash balance according to the Auditor-General was #17,561,496,905.46 and that of 2018 stood at #11,207,102,272.30 as at December 31st.
The state Auditor-General then urged the state government to continue to train and retrain accountants and other accounting officers to enhance service delivery and stop the release of overhead of any ministry that fails to give proper accountability as noticed by the office of the Auditor-General.
He said, “I have certified the individual accounts- cash flow statement, statement of financial performance, statement of financial position, statement of change in asset/equity and notes to the accounts as correct subject to the observations of this report.
“In fulfilling the provisions of the extant laws of Financial regulations, my office within the financial years under review had carried out financial audit in accordance with the laws to determine whether the accounts have been satisfactorily and faithfully kept.
“We have also done appropriate audit to ensure that funds are expended as appropriated by the State House of Assembly and also did a Value-for-Money exercise to ascertain the level of economy, efficiency and effectiveness derived from government project and programmes”. He stated.
Delivering a goodwill message at the forum, the state Head of Service, Dr Oyebade Olowogboyega said it is good that the state government of Osun is leading the way in accountability and the running of a transparent government through audit reports.
He added that giving an audit report is the best way to go by any government in the world as it would make the citizens continue to have more confidence and belief in their government to the right thing.
“Being accountable to your people is just the best way to go and am happy that this is happening and things can only get better”.
Also speaking, the Supervisor for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji stated that running a transparent government through giving of audit report can go a long way in encouraging citizens to pay taxes and other levies because they know how their monies are being spent.
He said the government of Osun will continue to put the people first at all times because government is for the people, hence the need for them to know what is going on.
Also present at the forum were: pensioners, Non-governmental organizations, civil society organisations among others.
