THE House of Representatives has summoned past and present government officials involved in the National Social Investment Programmes to account for the N1.7tn appropriated for their implementation between 2016 and September 2019.
In this regard, the lawmakers summoned a former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the current Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and her counterpart at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, to clear the air on what they described as misleading information on the NSIP account domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The current and former permanent secretaries, as well as desk officers involved in the implementation of the NSIPs in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as well as officials in the National Social Investment Office, were also summoned.
The relevant officials were summoned during an investigative hearing on queries by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the NSIPs.
The Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Wole Oke, alleged that the Presidency provided misleading information on the NSIP account.
He made reference to the Special Assistant to the President on Home School Feeding Programme, Dotun Adebayo, and other officials.
Responding, the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, claimed that only N619.142bn was released, out of the N1.7tn appropriated for the NSIPs.
He added that out of the N619.142bn that was released, a total of N560.914bn was utilised, leaving a balance of N58.227bn, which was handed over to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
A breakdown of the figures showed that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning processed and released N32.088bn for Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme: N20.59bn for Conditional Cash Transfer; N149.965bn for Home-Grown School Feeding Programme; N355.846bn for Job Creation Unit; and N2.428bn for Social Investment Programme (General).
According to the Minister of State for Finance, requests for payments for all expenditures, with regard to any of the programmes under the NSIP, emanated from the National Social Investment Office situated under the Office of the Vice President.
“Requests for payments from the NSIO office were signed by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment. Funds for the programmes are domiciled in Central Bank of Nigeria Account Number 0020208461037,” he said.
Expressing the House of Reps’ displeasure with the desk officers’ attitude to procurement records, the committee chairman said, “We gave you powers, pursuant to our various appropriation Acts, to spend money. We are only asking you, based on the project audit, to retire. Give us records. It is as simple as that.
“You’ve given us records of N-Power. Nobody is arguing with you over that. We can see the names of beneficiaries of N-Power. As members, we can feel the N-Power beneficiaries in the various local government areas and constituencies; nobody is asking you questions about it. Dotun claimed that the Auditor-General said they spent N191bn and we are asking him to retire same. It is as simple as that.”
He said the House only wanted records from the desk officers, saying, “Give us records; what you did with N191bn. Who did you pay to? We should be able to report to Nigerians. Give us the procurement report and that ends there.”
