A financial audit carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has passed a damaging verdict on registered political parties: they lack transparency, prudency and proper accounting records in their transactions..
In the audit report entitled “Executive Summary of External Auditor Report On The Account of Political Parties for the Year 2010”, the INEC said the 63 political parties including the major ones – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – failed to keep to the proper procedure and record-keeping in their financial activities.
According to the report, 56 political parties spent in excess of over N2.5 billion to pursue their political objectives in the year 2010. The commission stated that the PDP and six other parties were yet to submit their financial records for auditing in line with the Electoral Act which gives INEC power to conduct the financial audit annually.
As for the CPC, the ACN and the ANPP, the report says the parties do not have their “prepared and audited internal financial statement for the year 2010, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) failed or refused to keep the conventional books of account properly.
For example, the ACN claimed that its income for the year was N84.9 million while its entire expenditure for the year under review was put at N11.2 million. The CPC put its income for the year at N331.2 million while its expenditure is N268.6 million. The ANPP claimed to have generated N493.7 million and expended N370.5million.
Apart from lack of proper financial records, the commission also faulted the parties’ inability to keep up-to-date membership register as well as failure to manage their assets effectively for the purpose of easy auditing.
According to the report signed by INEC’s executive secretary, Mr. Abdullahi Kaugama, the other parties that have not subjected their financial records for scrutiny include, the Peoples Mandate Party (PMP), the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) the Accord Party (AP), the Action Alliance (AA), the Peoples Salvation Party (PSP), Democratic Front for Peoples Federation (DFPF) and Freedom Party of Nigeria (FPN).
?While the report stated that it was awaiting the internal financial reports of the PDP as it was yet to be endorsed by the relevant authorities empowered to do so, the electoral commission however stated that six parties have refused to cooperate with it on the issue.
?Section 89 (1) of the Electoral Act says, “A political party shall submit to the commission a detailed annual statement of assets and liabilities and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets, together with statement of its expenditure in such a form as the commission may from time to time require.
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