The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has given six heads of federal government agencies and higher educational institution seventy-two hours only to appear before the panel to answer queries emanating from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation against them.
Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Bamidele Salam gave warning following the agencies refusal to honour the invitation sent to them by the panel.
The six federal government agencies and institution include the Rural Electrification Agency, Nigeria Upstream Regulatory Authority, the Nigeria Satellite Communications Ltd NIGCOMSAT, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, the Export Processing Zone Authority and the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun.
The House Committee also stated that the latest invitation of the six agencies and institution is the last warning before a warrant of arrest would be issued and signed against the heads of the agencies
Hon. Salam said that the invitation of the heads of the aforementioned agencies to the investigative hearing was to answer questions on the queries from the report of the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to the committee.
He noted that out of the six invited entities, only the Rural Electrification Agency sent letters to the committee asking that the chief executive officer of the agency be excused from attendance at the hearing
He said that the issue under investigation extends to the probe of cash advances and misapplication of funds budgeted by the House in some of the agencies.
“We are going to use our constitutional power to ensure that every kobo spent by the MDAs is prudently spent.
“I plead with my esteemed committee members to give these agencies a second chance to appear,” Hon Salam said.
However, members of the committee criticised the action of the agencies, describing it as total disregard for the parliament and the Constitution.
Hon. Ademurin Kuye who was the first speak said the parliament was an important institution of government that should be taken seriously while also taking exception to the action of the agencies.
Kuye who said he had to reschedule his flight from Lagos on Monday morning because of the interaction with the agencies said if members will take the parliament serious, agencies established by the parliament must take the institution serious.
He said the agencies must be reminded that the parliament is vested with the power of investigation and summon by the Constitution, while describing them as serial violators of the constitution.
He informed the committee that the agencies had problem with the Public Account Committee of the 9th Assembly and were unable to defend audit queries against them throughout the life span of the Assembly.
He said the Rural Electrification Agency has the 2017 audit query pending against it as it was unable to defend allegation of fraud amounting to over N2 billion.
Kuye also alleged that the PAC of the 9th Assembly had a running battle with NIGCOMSAT over the 469 million dollars Chinese loan taken by the company which they failed to defend until the expiration of the tenure of the last Assembly, while NEPZA failed to defend allegation of being a conduit pipe to siphon some 15 million dollars.
Contributing, Hon. Billy Osaweru said even though he was a first timer in the House, it was obvious that something was wrong, adding that what happened in the 9th Assembly must not be allowed to happen in the 10th Assembly.
Hon. Osaweru said there must be punitive action taken against agencies who refuse to honour invitation from the parliament especially when it was an opportunity for them to defend themselves.
He said the House should exercise its powers under the constitution and issue a warrant of arrest against the Chief Executive of the agencies.
Hon. Aliyu Bappa Misau stressed that when an audit query is issued, it gives those concern the opportunity to defend the query, adding that for the queries to form part of the audit report is an indication that the agencies refused to respond to them.
He said the invitation from the parliament was a second opportunity for the agencies to come and respond to the queries, expressing regret that the agencies have constantly refused to respond to invitation from the parliament.
However, Hon. Femi Bamishile appealed to members to give the agencies another opportunity to appear and defend the queries against them.
The committee voted to give them 72 hours to appear and defend the audit queries, warning that failure to appear, the committee will be forced to take drastic action.
In his final ruling, the House Committee Chairman, Hon.Salam said that the heads of the six agencies and institution should appear before the constitutional committee of the House on Thursday November 2,2023 at 10:00am unfailingly.
