Precious Nwonu, Enugu
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee is set to question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Independent National Electoral Commission over alleged financial irregularities amounting to more than N802.19 billion.
The queries are contained in reports of the Auditor-General for the Federation covering the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years.
The reports raised concerns over procurement procedures, revenue management, payments and compliance with financial regulations by the two government institutions.
The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam, who represents Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore and Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, is expected to summon accounting officers and relevant technical officials of both agencies to provide explanations and supporting documents.
A member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the NNPCL and INEC would appear before the lawmakers on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex.
He said the committee would begin its public hearings on Monday with several other government institutions, including the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Federal Capital Territory Judicial Service Commission, Federal Colleges of Education in Okene and Gombe, and the University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin.
According to the lawmaker, the Auditor-General’s 2021 report raised queries of about N514 billion against the NNPCL, while the 2022 audit report contained alleged financial breaches of approximately N288.19 billion involving INEC.
The NNPCL queries reportedly include N343.64 billion in alleged irregular deductions from domestic crude oil sales.
The Auditor-General also reportedly flagged N83.66 billion allegedly kept in a sinking fund account from miscellaneous revenue, as well as N82.95 billion in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.
Another N3.75 billion was reportedly identified as a shortfall linked to the sale of petroleum products.
The committee is expected to demand records and explanations from the NNPCL concerning the transactions and determine how the issues raised in the audit report were addressed.
INEC is also expected to respond to queries relating to procurement processes, payments to contractors and the alleged failure to remit statutory deductions.
The lawmaker said some of the issues relate to expenditure during the tenure of former INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who has since been appointed an ambassador.
He said the committee would examine financial transactions associated with preparations for and conduct of previous elections, including expenditure dating back to the 2019 general election.
One of the issues identified in the Auditor-General’s 2022 report was an alleged N5.31 billion payment for the supply of smart card readers for the 2019 general election without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The smart card readers were used by INEC during the 2019 elections before the commission adopted the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the 2023 polls.
Other agencies expected to appear before the committee on Tuesday include the National Mathematical Centre, National Power Training Centre, National Research Institute for Chemical Technology and the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency.
The investigation is part of the constitutional mandate of the Public Accounts Committee to examine the findings of the Auditor-General and require public institutions to account for public expenditure.
However, the audit queries do not in themselves establish that the affected agencies or officials committed wrongdoing. The institutions are expected to respond to the allegations and provide relevant records and explanations before the committee reaches any conclusion.
Efforts to obtain a response from the committee chairman, Salam, were unsuccessful as calls and messages sent to him were unanswered.
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