The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has summoned the chairmen of the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory over alleged financial infractions running into more than N100 billion, following adverse findings by the Auditor-General for the FCT.
The affected councils are the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji and Kwali.
According to the audit report for the year ended December 31, 2021, submitted to the Committee, the councils were indicted for widespread financial lapses, including failure to remit taxes and value-added tax deductions, poor asset management practices, and expenditures that were not properly accounted for.
The report noted that “the six Area Councils recorded outstanding liabilities amounting to N7.6bn as of December 31, 2021.”
In a statement released on Friday by the PAC media unit, the Committee explained that the liabilities covered “unremitted pension deductions, unremitted Pay-As-You-Earn, unpaid capital project obligations, unremitted VAT and withholding taxes due to the Nigeria Revenue Service, FCT Inland Revenue Service, Pension Fund Administrators, and contractors.”
A council-by-council breakdown showed that AMAC owed N2.19bn, Bwari Area Council N1.49bn, Kwali Area Council N1.46bn, Gwagwalada Area Council N1.01bn, Kuje Area Council N892.2m, while Abaji Area Council recorded N593.8m — bringing the total to N7.65bn.
The Auditor-General further criticised the councils for failing to maintain updated Fixed Asset Registers, citing Gwagwalada Area Council “where non-current assets valued at N336m were not adequately maintained or updated, creating room for asset losses without trace.”
The report also raised red flags over N24.8bn spent by the councils in 2021 on personnel, overheads and capital projects.
“Despite an 89 per cent increase in total expenditure amounting to N11.7bn compared to 2020, the councils have not accounted for how 37 per cent of the expenditure purportedly allocated to capital projects was utilised,” the report stated.
Expenditure figures showed that AMAC spent N5.03bn, Gwagwalada N4.66bn, Kuje N3.85bn, Kwali N3.84bn, Bwari N3.74bn and Abaji N3.71bn, amounting to N24.87bn.
Further audit reviews for 2022 and part of 2023 also uncovered “multiple infractions of financial regulations such as understatement of actual Internally Generated Revenue, unauthorised assets disposal, non-disclosure of statutory revenue and non-remittance of withholding tax to appropriate authorities.”
Confirming receipt of the audit report, PAC Chairman, Bamidele Salam, said the Committee had issued three separate summons to the chairmen of the six Area Councils and their respective Finance Directors to respond to the audit queries.
He warned that the officials had been given a final opportunity to appear before the Committee on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
Failure to comply, Salam said, would compel the House to invoke its constitutional powers “to order their arrest and ensure compliance.”
The Committee chairman also disclosed that the councils were further indicted for “failure to audit and submit their financial accounts for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, contrary to statutory requirements.”
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