The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate two former Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Williams Alo and Yerima Tafa, over alleged mismanagement of N3.2 billion during their tenure.
Chaired by Bamidele Salam, who represents Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency in Osun State, the committee expressed frustration over the repeated failure of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to respond to audit queries issued by the Auditor-General for the Federation.
Salam revealed that the committee had sent seven invitations to the Ministry of Labour, none of which were honoured. He also noted that the ministry failed to provide necessary documents to address 32 audit queries raised in the 2020 audit report.
“The Auditor-General made specific recommendations, but we decided to give the ministry an opportunity to defend itself. However, the Minister has consistently refused to appear before the committee,” Salam stated. He emphasized that Alo and Tafa, who served as Permanent Secretaries during the alleged infractions, should be held accountable as the ministry’s accounting officers at the time.
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The committee also issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Saliu Usman, to appear before them and respond to seven audit queries raised in the 2021 financial report. Failure to comply, the committee warned, would result in the adoption of the Auditor-General’s recommendations.
“Today, we expected to meet with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, which has six major queries raised by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has seven major queries against it. The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs had five major queries, while the Federal Ministry of Transportation had five queries,” Salam said.
Speaking at the public hearing, Salam stressed the importance of addressing revenue leakages and strengthening Nigeria’s auditing system. “We have had several instances where civil society organisations and members of the public have criticised the National Assembly for not doing enough in terms of oversight and using our statutory powers to keep MDAs in check. These agencies must be accountable to ensure they deliver on the government’s intentions and justify the budget allocations they receive,” he said.
Salam highlighted specific irregularities flagged in the Auditor-General’s report, including an unaccounted allocation of N351 million to the Geneva Labour Desk, despite the desk already receiving appropriations from the National Assembly. Other infractions included “payment without evidence of execution of project amounting to N226 million, unretired cash advances amounting to N344 million, and payment for consultancy service without execution of N7 million.”
He further detailed additional allegations, such as “abuse of cash advance policy and regulation to the tune of N238 million, payment for non-existent job centres in three parts of the country for a total amount of N497 million, payment for a non-executed contract in Kaduna for N144 million, and an unsubstantiated contract award for N67 million, among others, totalling about N3.2 billion.”
The committee also issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Transportation, Women Affairs, and Humanitarian Services—Adeleye Ayodeji, Mariam Keshero, and Yakubu Adams Kofamata, respectively—to appear before the committee or face consequences.
The call for a probe underscores the committee’s commitment to ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of public funds, as well as its determination to address systemic corruption within government agencies.
Source: Ripples Nigeria
