The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has called for an investigation into two former federal permanent secretaries.
The House committee asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to invite the two former Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Labour, Mr. Williams Alo and Mr. Yerima Tafa over a N3,201,583,660.60 financial infraction while they were in office.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Bamidele Salam, who announced the resolution, said that the Committee has written seven different letters to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to appear before the committee without any response or reason for not coming.
He noted that the Ministry also failed to provide the relevant documents needed to clear them of the 32 audit queries against them from the 2020 audit report.
Mr. Salam said that although the Auditor General of the Federation made specific recommendations, the Committee decided to write the Ministry by giving them an opportunity to defend themselves. They added that the Minister has consistently refused to honour the invitation.
Mr Salam stressed that several other MDAs have cultivated the habit of ignoring parliamentary summons to account for public fund appropriated by the National Assembly and given to them, adding that the Nigerian public have in recent times called out the National Assembly for not carrying out adequate oversight.
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According to him, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts had to issue a statement against some MDAs for their refusal to appear. He said that the House Committee will not continue to waste its time inviting agencies that will not respect the constitutional authority of the National Assembly.
He said Williams Alo and Yerima Tafa who were the Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry when the infraction took place should be held liable for the infraction since they were the accounting officers in the ministry.
The committee also gave the current Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Saliu Usman 72 hours to appear before them to respond to the seven audit queries from the Auditor General for the 2021 financial year or risk having the committee uphold the recommendations of the Auditor General.
The Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministries of Transportation, Women Affairs and Humanitarian Services, Adeleye Ayodeji, Mariam Keshero and Yakubu Adams Kofamata respectively are also to appear before the committee within the next 72 hours.
Mr Salam also said that the committee was making every effort to address the queries contained in both the 2020 and 2021 audit report before the 2022 report is submitted in April.
Speaking at the investigative hearing, a member of the committee, Emeka Chinedu expressed concern about the development.
He based his concerns on the fact that that the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment is a former member of the House who knows the workings and powers of the parliament.
The Committee also lamented the increasing disregard for the committee and the parliament by Ministries, Department and Agencies of government by refusing to honour invitations to respond to audit queries issued by the Auditor General of the Federation.
Emmanuel Ukoh
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