Senate on Tuesday, started Investigation on the Office of Accountant General of the Federation over N978 billion received from Service Wide Votes (SWV) ,between 2017- 2021.
The N978 billion received from Service Wide Votes consist of both Capital and recurrent expenditures which were disbursed to the Ministries, Department and Agencies.
The investigation is coming less than one week that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) , disclosed that the agency has collected about N30 billion from the former Accountant General of Federation, Idris Ahmed who is currently under investigation for N110 billion fraud.
Speaking at the opening of the investigative hearing, the Chairman of Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Mathew Urhoghide observed that there are some releases from Service Wide Votes (SWV) which there are no Authority to Incure Expenditure (AIE) and this elicited suspension of the Committee adding it was only memos provided to back the releases .
The Chairman who was not satisfied with submission of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation said that the Office of Accountant General needs to give the explanation to the committee on bit by bit of the expenditures for proper understanding because the figures are enormous and response to the committee is not satisfactory.
According to him, from what I have seen, we may need time so that we can analyse the expenditure one by one, these figures are enormous and the response is not satisfactory.
However, the Office of Accountant General of the Federation, represented by Director of Fund, Sabo Mohammed told the committee to give them more time to respond the issues raised by the Lawmakers.
According to him, it will take some time , we should do it systematically to save our time and your time , this is a matter of going back and do them one after the other .
” We have responded to some , we will still go back and separate our own from that of MDAs.
“We have found out that many of the figures may not correct .”
The Chairman therefore, asked the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to go back and put the documents together and appear on Thursday .
The party, Ojelabi said, had strengthened itself on the ideals of social equality and brought programmes targeted at alleviating burdens on people. He cited the recent reduction of tertiary institution school fees by 60 per cent as deliberate to create more access for the youth
He said: “We want you to renew your hope with us for a better Lagos and Nigeria. We are presenting the best candidates for State and national elections. Today, we want to sign another accord and renew our commitment to deliver more projects that will make your lives better.”
Former Deputy Governor and party leader in the division, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, said Lagos East benefited greatly from the Sanwo-Olu administration in the areas of education, housing and infrastructure.
The GAC leader said the best way to appreciate the Governor’s performance was to re-elect him to complete various projects being undertaken by his administration.
