The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is set to question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged financial breaches totalling more than N802.19bn.
The queries are contained in reports of the Auditor-General for the Federation covering the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years, which raised concerns over procurement procedures, revenue management, payments and compliance with financial regulations by public institutions.
The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam, member representing Ede North/Ede South/Ejigbo/Egbedore Federal Constituency of Osun State, is scheduled to begin its proceedings on Monday, with officials from several government agencies expected to appear before it.
A member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on its behalf, told The PUNCH that the NNPCL and INEC would appear before the committee on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex.
The lawmaker said the Auditor-General’s 2021 report raised queries involving about N514bn against the NNPCL, while INEC would be asked to explain alleged financial breaches of about N288.19bn contained in the 2022 audit report.
“For the NNPCL, I am aware that the Auditor-General’s Report of 2021 raised alleged financial infractions of about N514 billion, while in the case of INEC, we shall be looking at clarifications on alleged financial breaches of about N288.19 billion as contained in the 2022 Auditor-General for the Federation audit query,” he said.
According to the audit findings cited by the committee member, the queries against the NNPCL include alleged irregular deductions of N343.64bn from domestic crude oil sales.
The company was also reportedly queried over N83.66bn allegedly warehoused from miscellaneous revenue in a sinking fund account, as well as N82.95bn in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.
Another N3.75bn was reportedly flagged over an alleged shortfall arising from the sale of petroleum products.
The committee is expected to ask the NNPCL to submit relevant documents and provide explanations concerning the transactions identified in the Auditor-General’s report.
INEC is also expected to respond to queries relating to procurement, payments to contractors and the non-remittance of statutory deductions.
The committee member said the queries related to transactions carried out during the tenure of former INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who has since been appointed an ambassador.
“There are several audit queries concerning procurement procedures, payments made to contractors as well as failure to remit statutory deductions by the commission during the administration of the former INEC Chairman,” he said.
He added that the committee would seek explanations concerning expenditure associated with the 2019 general election.
The Auditor-General’s 2022 report, according to the findings cited, questioned the payment of more than N5.31bn for the supply of smart card readers for the 2019 general election without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The smart card readers were used by INEC during the 2019 elections before the commission adopted the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the 2023 elections.
The PAC’s proceedings are part of its constitutional mandate to examine the Auditor-General’s findings and scrutinise the expenditure of public institutions, including unresolved audit queries.
However, an audit query does not, in itself, establish financial wrongdoing. The affected institution is entitled to respond to the allegations and provide supporting documents or explanations before the committee reaches any conclusion.
The committee is also scheduled to question officials from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Federal Capital Territory Judicial Service Commission, the Federal Colleges of Education in Okene and Gombe, and the University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, among others.
Other agencies listed for questioning on Tuesday include the National Mathematical Centre, National Power Training Centre, National Research Institute for Chemical Technology and the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency.
Efforts to obtain comments from Salam were unsuccessful. Calls to the lawmaker went unanswered, while he did not respond to messages sent via WhatsApp.
