By Ferdinand Olise

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a seven-day final summons to the Directors of Personnel Management and Finance, and Heads of Audit of the Federal Capital Territory Six Area Councils, directing them to appear before the Committee on October 14, 2026, or face sanctions in accordance with the relevant service rules.

This follows the failure of the six Area Council Chairmen to appear before the Committee to answer questions over alleged financial infractions contained in audit reports involving about one hundred billion Naira.

According to the Committee chaired by Representative Bamidele Salam, the Chairmen had requested September 22, 2026, as the date for their appearance before the Committee, but failed to attend or send representatives.

The audit queries are contained in the Annual Audit Report of the Auditor-General for the Six FCT Area Councils for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021.

The affected councils are Abaji, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali.

According to the report, the six councils had outstanding liabilities of about N7.65 billion arising from unremitted pension deductions, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Value Added Tax (VAT) and withholding tax, as well as unpaid obligations to contractors.

A breakdown showed that AMAC accounted for the highest outstanding liability of N2.19 billion, followed by Bwari with N1.49 billion and Kwali with N1.46 billion.

Gwagwalada had N1.01 billion in outstanding liabilities, Kuje N892.2 million and Abaji N593.8 million.

The report said the liabilities were due for remittance to the Nigeria Revenue Service, FCT Inland Revenue Service, Pension Fund Administrators and contractors.

It stated: “The Auditor General for the Six Area Council reported in annual report of the year 2021 that the Six Area Councils had outstanding liabilities of N7.6bn as at December 31, 2021 comprising unremitted pension deduction, unremitted Pay as You Earn (PAYE), unpaid capital projects, unpaid value added tax and withholding tax.”

The Auditor-General also faulted the councils over the management of their fixed assets, noting that asset registers were not properly maintained and updated.

Gwagwalada Area Council was specifically cited over non-current assets valued at N336 million, which the report said were not properly recorded and updated.

The report stated: “The Auditor General for the Six Area Council reported that the value of non-current asset of Gwagwalada Area Council stood at N336m. However, the Auditor General observed that the ledger records of the non-current assets were not properly maintained and updated as at when due which could give room for loss of asset without being traced. This exception is common among other FCT Area Councils.”

The committee is also seeking explanations and supporting documents on N24.87 billion expended by the six councils on personnel, overheads and capital expenditure in 2021.

The breakdown showed that AMAC spent N5.03 billion, Gwagwalada N4.66 billion, Kuje N3.85 billion, Kwali N3.84 billion, Bwari N3.74 billion and Abaji N3.71 billion.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam, said the councils had repeatedly failed to honour invitations and provide documents required by the committee to resolve the audit queries.

“The last date of appearance of the Abuja Area Councils was September 22, 2026, which was a date they requested for and which was graciously granted by the committee. Yet, they failed to appear or send in any representation.

“The committee has therefore decided to issue summons to the Directors of Personnel Management and Finance of these local governments, including their Heads of Audit, to appear without fail on Wednesday, October 14, failure of which they will be made to bear consequences according to service rules,” he said.

Salam said the committee had also uncovered further concerns in audit reports for 2022 and part of 2023, including alleged understatement of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), unauthorised disposal of assets, non-disclosure of statutory revenue and failure to remit withholding tax to the appropriate authorities.

He further disclosed that the councils had failed to audit and submit their financial accounts for 2023, 2024 and 2025, contrary to statutory requirements.

The lawmaker stressed the need for public funds to be managed with transparency, accountability and prudence, warning that officials found culpable would be held accountable in accordance with the law.

The Public Accounts Committee derives its constitutional mandate from the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to examine audited accounts of public institutions and investigate financial irregularities identified by the Auditor-General.

The latest summons is therefore aimed at compelling the relevant officials of the six FCT Area Councils to appear before the committee and provide explanations and supporting documents required to resolve the outstanding audit queries.

Representative Salam therefore stressed the need for public funds to be managed with transparency, accountability and prudence, warning that officials found culpable would be held accountable in accordance with the law.

By Ferdinand Olise

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has proposed structured legislative interventions across the globe as an urgent parliamentary action to address climate-related disasters and strengthen resilience in vulnerable regions.

Speaking in Arusha, Tanzania during a debate on ‘Urgent Parliamentary Action to Address Climate-related Disasters and Strengthen Resilience” at the ongoing one hundred and fifty third Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Kalu said the debate must move beyond pledges to practical, bankable legislative actions that deliver for people and economies.

He said the structured global legislative intervention should be built on two pillars of an investor-ready pipeline of priority projects across clean energy, transport, agriculture, resilient infrastructure and circular economy, and a project-preparation and transaction-support platform that helps move viable projects from concept to bankability, financing and implementation.

He therefore tasked lawmakers on legal certainty and public accountability, sound legislation, credible institutions, sub-national innovation and international capital to transform the goals of the Paris Agreement into practical progress.

He highlighted the delays in implementations of agreements, adding that for too long, the international climate dialogue has been defined by ambitious pledges that have not been matched by adequate, accessible and affordable finance for developing countries.

“Across the globe farmers are confronting irregular rainfall and declining yields; coastal communities are facing erosion and rising waters; businesses are losing productive hours to unreliable energy; and cities are struggling with flooding that overwhelms drainage systems and infrastructure.

“Our people are already living with the consequences of extreme weather, flooding, land degradation, food
insecurity and climate-related displacement. Climate finance must
therefore support both emissions reduction and human resilience.

“As legislators we should understand that legislation must not remain a statement of intent. It must become an instrument of delivery. Lawmakers are not just observers of the climate crisis, but as architects of the legal certainty and public accountability required for a resilient, competitive and sustainable economy.

“Today, I propose that this debate should not end as another important conversation. It should become the beginning of a structured legislative intervention across the globe. First, it should support the development of an investor-ready pipeline of priority projects across clean energy, transport, agriculture, resilient infrastructure and the circular economy.

“Second, it should establish a project-preparation and transaction-support
platform that helps move viable projects from concept to bankability, financing and implementation.

“This is how ambition becomes action. This is how policy becomes finance. And this is how finance becomes infrastructure, jobs, resilience
and shared prosperity.

“Distinguished colleagues, we can combine sound legislation, credible institutions, sub-national innovation and international capital to transform the goals of the Paris Agreement into practical progress for the people of Nigeria and other developing countries”, he said

The Deputy Speaker also said that climate action is not an abstract environmental aspiration for Nigeria, but a livelihood and economic issue.

“For Nigeria, climate action is not an abstract environmental aspiration, but about whether a farmer can harvest despite changing rainfall patterns; whether a family can access affordable and reliable electricity, whether a young person can find dignified work in a modern economy, whether our cities can withstand floods, and whether Africa’s largest economy can industrialise without reproducing the environmental vulnerabilities of the past,” he said.

He lamented the delays in implementations of agreements, saying that for too long, the international climate dialogue has been defined by ambitious pledges that have not been matched by adequate, accessible and affordable finance for developing countries.

According to him, Nigeria is not at the Assembly merely to restate needs, but to present an opportunity, noting that the country is inviting investors to co-finance a growing pipeline of commercially viable, climate-resilient projects supported by law, public policy, accountable institutions and a legislature committed to delivery.

The Deputy Speaker recalled that at COP26, Nigeria announced its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 through the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan, describing it as a development-centred pathway that seeks not only to reduce emissions, but also to expand energy access, reduce poverty, create jobs and build a more resilient economy.

He said Nigeria’s updated Energy Transition Plan estimates approximately US$500 billion in capital investment above business-as-usual spending required to achieve net zero by 2060.

“This is not simply a financing gap, it is an investment horizon. It is an opportunity to build new markets, modernise infrastructure, create green jobs, unlock innovation and deliver long-term returns,” he said.

The Deputy Speaker also listed priority investment areas to include distributed renewable energy, solar mini-grids, battery storage, clean cooking solutions, electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure, industrial energy efficiency, climate-smart agriculture, irrigation, cold-chain logistics, food processing, electric mobility, mass transit, low-carbon urban transport, waste-to-value systems, methane reduction and green manufacturing.

He also listed Nigeria’s legislative commitments to include strengthening implementation of the Climate Change Act, monitoring climate-related public expenditure, supporting credible carbon-market and green-finance frameworks, promoting reforms that improve investor protection and contract enforcement, ensuring transparent approval processes for green projects, supporting expansion of state-level electricity markets, and convening sustained dialogue among government, investors and communities.

By Ferdinand Olise

ActionAid Nigeria has welcomed President Bola Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day declaration of backing the promise to defeat poverty with clear, measurable targets.

In his Independence Day address, President Tinubu declared: “Our objective is not to manage poverty more efficiently. We will defeat it.”

ActionAid, in a statement signed by its Country Director, Dr Andrew Mamedu, described the commitment as bold, but said Nigerians need to know how success will be measured.

“The President has made a bold commitment that Nigeria will defeat poverty. Nigerians should now be able to hold the government to that commitment through clear, measurable results,” Dr Mamedu said.

The organization cited World Bank data showing that an estimated 50.8 percent of Nigerians, about 123 million people, lived in extreme poverty in 2025, while 69.6 percent lived below the $4.20-a-day poverty line for lower-middle-income countries.

Action Aid therefore stated that government should be able to tell Nigerians, year by year, how many people have moved out of poverty.

“Poverty cannot be declared defeated because economic indicators are improving. It will be defeated when people can feel the difference at home,” the statement noted.

ActionAid acknowledged positive macroeconomic signals, including NBS data showing real GDP grew by 4.43 percent year-on-year in Q2 2026, up from 3.89 percent in Q1, and headline inflation moderating to 15.39 percent in August 2026, though food inflation remained high at 19.57 percent.

The organisation urged that growth must be inclusive.

“GDP can grow while families remain poor. Nigeria must ensure that economic growth translates into shared prosperity,” the group said, noting that the World Bank itself observed that household incomes have not fully recovered.

The group also referenced the President’s vision of a Nigeria where “the farmer can cultivate his land safely, produce more at lower cost, and earn a decent return for his labour,” saying this should become a measurable commitment.

According to FAO’s latest assessment, nearly 36.3 million people faced severe acute food insecurity during the June-August 2026 lean season, including about 2.1 million at emergency levels, driven by conflict and economic pressures.

ActionAid therefore called for investments in irrigation, mechanisation, seeds, storage and transport to deliberately reach small holder farmers, particularly women, and for stronger support for climate-resilient and agro-ecological practices.

The organization further stated that insecurity must be measured beyond military operations.

“Security has to be measured not only by operations conducted or criminals neutralised, but by outcomes: Are attacks declining? Are farmers returning safely to their fields? Can displaced families return home? Are children attending school without fear?” the statement said.

ActionAid urged the Federal Government to translate the Independence Day commitments into time-bound, publicly measurable targets for poverty reduction, household incomes, food security, employment, social protection and community safety.

“If this is truly the beginning of an age of prosperity, then prosperity must have numbers, targets and timelines. We must be able to measure how many Nigerians are leaving poverty behind, not simply how much the economy is growing,” Dr Mamedu added.