The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee, PAC has expressed displeasure with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments for the insufficient documentation provided regarding the alleged mismanagement of N75 billion in COVID-19 Intervention funds allocated by the Federal Government.
Chairman of the Committee,
Mr. Bamidele Salam who expressed his dissatisfaction in Abuja during the resumed probe of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government in Abuja criticized the expenditure report of the N75 billion allocation, stating that it was inadequate and failed to provide meaningful information.
The Committee at its last sitting had ordered the Ministry, its immediate past and the incumbent Permanent Secretaries to jointly refund the sum of N75 billion allocated to it as COVID-19 intervention funds after the refusal of officials of the ministry to appear before the Committee to defend the expendables.
However, when the incumbent Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi appeared before the Committee, he said that he only assumed office at the Ministry on the 21st of January this year.
He apologized for the failure of the ministry to appear before the Constitutional Committee three consecutive times to defend the expendables as requested.
Consequently, the lawmakers unanimously resolved to allow the Ministry to resubmit a complete document within 7 working days and ordered that the Managing Director of Bank Of Industry should be available in person on the next hearing date for the defence of the query.
By Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji
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