The attention of the State Government has been drawn to a report alleging fraudulent budgetary over-expenditure by officials of the Akwa Ibom State Government on the 2019 budget and 2019 Audited Financial statements as statutorily issued by the state Accountant General. We state here emphatically that the findings arrived at by the said report is based on an unauthentic source.
The authentic version which was sent to the legislature and the Auditor General were inputed on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) platform, and agrees with the details supplied.
It is therefore startling to find an extensive ‘investigative’ publication based on a spurious report, which has a similar cover design with the authentic report.
As a government, we take financial reporting very seriously and have consistently complied with the IPSAS requirement, though generally acknowledged as cumbersome, due to its uncommon coding system. WHOEVER GAVE THE SPURIOUS REPORT TO THE AUTHORS MUST HAVE DONE SO OUT OF MISCHIEF.
To offer explicit explanation, a press conference will be convened on 18th November, 2020, where the Honourable Commissioners for Finance and Economic development respectively and the Accountant General will provide answers to the issues raised in the said publication. The original copies of the report will be made available to the press at the briefing. The volume and quantity of the report when presented, will show that it could not have been speedily printed.
The general public is hereby enjoined to discountenance the findings of the said publication.
Signed:
Comrade Ini Ememobong
Honourable Commissioner for Information & Strategy
Akwa Ibom State
17112020
