…………….The House Public Accounts Committee is set to question officials of the two agencies over audit queries involving procurement, revenue deductions, payments to contractors and statutory remittances.
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee will on Tuesday summon accounting officers and subject matter experts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Independent National Electoral Commission to respond to alleged financial breaches totalling about N802.19bn.
The queries are contained in reports of the Auditor-General for the Federation covering various financial years and relate to transactions involving revenue management, procurement procedures, payments, deductions and compliance with financial regulations.
The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam, member representing Ede North/Ede South/Ejigbo/Egbedore Federal Constituency of Osun State, is exercising its constitutional mandate to examine public accounts and investigate issues involving revenue losses, non-remittance of statutory funds and breaches of financial regulations.
A member of the committee, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to speak officially, said the Auditor-General’s reports had raised questions concerning the NNPCL in its 2021, 2022 and 2023 audits, while INEC would be required to clarify issues contained in the Auditor-General’s 2022 and 2023 reports.
According to the lawmaker, the committee commenced its questioning of government agencies on Monday, with several institutions appearing before it, while Tuesday’s sitting would focus particularly on the NNPCL and INEC.
He said the committee expected the accounting officers and relevant experts from both institutions to appear before it and provide explanations on the financial transactions identified in the audit reports.
“For the NNPCL, I am aware that the Auditor-General’s Report of 2021 raised alleged financial infractions of about N514bn, while in the case of INEC, we shall be looking at clarifications on alleged financial breaches of about N288.19bn as contained in the 2022 Auditor-General for the Federation audit query,” the lawmaker said.
The N514bn queried against the NNPCL reportedly includes alleged irregular deductions of N343.64bn from domestic crude oil sales. The Auditor-General also reportedly flagged N83.66bn allegedly warehoused from miscellaneous revenue in a sinking fund account and N82.95bn in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.
Another N3.75bn was reportedly identified as a shortfall arising from the sale of petroleum products, bringing the financial issues highlighted against the oil company to several categories requiring clarification before the committee.
The committee is expected to demand supporting documents from the NNPCL and require the company to explain the transactions identified in the Auditor-General’s reports. The proceedings are expected to provide the company an opportunity to respond to the allegations and account for the funds involved.
On INEC, the committee is expected to examine audit queries relating to procurement procedures, payments made to contractors and failure to remit statutory deductions.
The queries reportedly cover transactions during the administration of former INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who has since been appointed an ambassador. According to the lawmaker, the committee would examine questions surrounding expenditure by the electoral commission, including spending associated with the 2019 general election.
The Auditor-General’s 2022 report reportedly stated that more than N5.31bn was paid for the supply of smart card readers for the 2019 election without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The smart card readers were among the technological tools deployed by INEC during the 2019 general election before the commission introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the 2023 elections.
The latest proceedings form part of the Public Accounts Committee’s constitutional responsibility to examine the findings of the Auditor-General and ensure that public institutions respond to outstanding audit queries and account for public expenditure.
However, the existence of an audit query does not by itself establish wrongdoing. The affected institutions are entitled to provide documents, explanations and other evidence before the committee determines whether any financial regulations were breached.
Other government agencies listed to appear before the Salam-led committee include the National Mathematical Centre, National Power Training Centre, National Research Institute for Chemical Technology and the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency.
The committee’s scrutiny comes as the House intensifies its examination of public expenditure and the implementation of financial regulations across government institutions.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of Salam to the planned proceedings were unsuccessful, as calls made to him were not answered, while he also did not respond to messages sent to him on WhatsApp.
