The Oversight Function of the Public Account Committee (PAC) in the nigEria National Assembly from 2014-2018

Abstract

Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly (PAC) is one of the highly empowered committees established by the standing orders of both houses to examine federal government (FGN) accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted to meet the public expenditure and the Auditor's report thereon. This study was carried out to examine the oversight function of the Public Account Committee of the Nigeria National Assembly. The objectives of the study were to examine the implementation status of PAC, ascertain the resource adequacy and empowerment of PAC to carry out its functions and to examine PAC effectively exercise its oversight function on audited financial statement. The study adopted the design and procedures of field survey with a total of 43 questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for the study p. Chi-square, multiple regression ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis. The result reveals that PAC has not effectively exercise her oversight function due to late submission of audited reports by Auditor General of the Federation, weak regulatory framework and poor committee members’ qualification, only 22.5% of the committee members have a degree in Economics and Account, 20% are members of ANAN, 17% are certified ICAN and 20% have 6-10 experience. The study recommended that, PAC members’ appointment should be based on professional competence and cognate experience, regulatory framework should be overhauled and time frame for submission of financial and audited reports and PAC examination should be strictly in line with the 1999 constitution with punishment awarded for non-compliance.