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Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
THE House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has queried the duty waiver granted a Chinese company, China Harbour, valued at N5bn, to import construction materials.
The committee specifically expressed dissatisfaction that a Chinese firm was given such an opportunity despite the fact that Nigeria had multi-billion dollar loans to repay China.
Chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, spoke at an investigative hearing on Wednesday based on an audit query issued against the Nigeria Customs Service by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
Oke condemned the complacency of the various regulatory agencies that approved such waivers allegedly in breach of due process and extant financial regulations, which he said had caused the country a huge loss of revenue.
Afropages - Reps express anger over 5 years unaudited accounts of FMB, TETFUND afropages.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from afropages.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ABUJA – The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has expressed displeasure over its discovery of five years unaudited accounts of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMB) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEFFUND).
Rep Oluwole Oke, Chairman of the Committee, conveyed the committee’s anger at the investigative hearing on audit queries by the Auditor-General of Federation (AGF) of Ministries Department and Agencies of government, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Oke said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) had not paid their respective 30 per cent and 20 per cent equity capital as shareholders of the bank, as stipulated by the FMB establishment Act.
The financial records were sent to the Senate and House of Representatives’ Committees on Public Accounts.
The report showed that N16.9bn was approved in the 2020 budget, N32.5bn from the COVID-19 Special Account/Levy; while N34.5bn was to be funded through donations from public and private sectors.
The audit report on the emergency response programme revealed that out of the N83.9bn appropriated, N63.797bn had been disbursed to implementing agencies and other entities as well as states at the time the audit was conducted.
“In the course of implementing the COVID-19 intervention activities, funds mobilised from various sources as at 30th June 2020 include: N22.2bn was disbursed by the Federal Government to the PTF; N24.6bn was disbursed by the Federal Government to the participating agencies.
Udora Orizu in Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to appear before it to explain the terms of agreement regarding the multilateral loan of $36.1 million and grant of $1.5 million from world bank and other development partners.
Recall that, on November 19, the Hon. Wole Oke-led panel asked the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, to explain why the office of the OAUGF was grossly underfunded.
Akabueze had in his response, faulted the notion that the OAuGF was grossly underfunded, saying that the office of the Auditor-General receives substantial resources from development partners, which includes $36.1 million multilateral loan and grant of $1.5 million from the world bank.