GLITZ TV
In a significant development, the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a directive to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments, compelling it to refund the sum of N75bn that was allocated to it as COVID-19 intervention funds. The committee also instructed the Ministry of Health to return the N10bn it received for the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
The decision was made following the absence of officials from these ministries during the committee’s investigative hearing on Thursday. The motion to demand the refund was presented by Bassey Akiba, a member of the Labour Party from Cross River State.
The committee had invited a total of 59 ministries, departments, and agencies to participate in the hearings, which aimed to investigate the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 funds. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 17, the hearings were postponed to Thursday as a gesture of solidarity with the government and people of Oyo State, who were recovering from a recent explosion in the state capital, Ibadan.
During the session at the National Assembly, Akiba proposed the motion for the ministries to reimburse the allocated funds. The motion was seconded and subsequently adopted by the committee, which directed the ministries to return the funds to the Federal Government’s coffers.
Expressing his disappointment, the committee’s chairman, Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun State), highlighted that despite sending multiple invitations to the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments, its officials failed to attend the hearings.
According to Salam, “The Federal Ministry of Trade, Industries, and Investments received N75bn as COVID-19 intervention funds. The Public Accounts Committee has extended invitations to the ministry three times, but none of them were honored. N75bn was allocated to them.”
The committee also mandated the Federal Ministry of Health to refund the N10bn that was earmarked for COVID-19 vaccine production but remained unutilized. However, the ministry’s representative, Permanent Secretary Daju Kachallom, informed the committee that the funds were held by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
Nevertheless, the committee insisted on the return of the funds, emphasizing that the ministry could reapply to the National Assembly if the funds were still required.
In a related development, the committee demanded that the Director General of the Rural Electrification Agency, Salihijo Ahmed, submit relevant documents detailing the utilization of the agency’s COVID-19 intervention funds. Ahmed appeared before the committee during the investigative hearing but requested additional time to provide the requested documents.
The committee instructed the agency to submit the documents by the end of the workday on Friday and scheduled a follow-up appearance on Monday at 10 am.
