The House of Representatives on
Wednesday summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Chief Pius Anyim, to explain his office’s role in the N1.2bn fund spent
by the Presidential Advisory Committee in 2010.
The committee was headed by a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophillus Danjuma (retd).
According to the House Committee on
Public Accounts, the Danjuma-led committee reportedly drew N1.2bn from
the Service Wide Vote Account and spent “over N767m or 30 per cent” on
hotel bills and reservations at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.
The House committee, which is chaired by
Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, found out that the money was released to the
Danjuma committee by the Budget Office of the Federation on the
directive of the office of the SGF.
The Office of the Auditor-General of the
Federation had queried the expenditure and referred the matter to the
House for investigation.
At its sitting on Wednesday, the committee summoned Anyim to explain the role of his office in the controversial expenditure.
It also summoned the management of
Transcorp Hotel to come with documents to prove that the N767m was
indeed spent on bills at the hotel by the Danjuma committee.
There was a mild drama when the DG,
Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, tried to absolve his office of blame on
how the money was spent.
This happened when the committee said
Okogwu’s office would account for the money if there was evidence that
it went into private pockets.
Okogu argued that his office merely
“acted on instructions” by the SGF to release the money to the Danjuma
committee, adding that whatever happened thereafter did not concern the
office.
He said, “These funds you mentioned were
not spent by the budget office. There were directives to release money
to agencies, to put the records straight.
“The PAC was under the SGF and the chairman was T.Y. Danjuma. It was an ad hoc committee that did its assignment and folded up.”
Okogu vehemently rejected the position
of the committee that he should either produce the members of the PAC or
account for the money himself.
“No, no, I cannot account for the money, the budget office did not spend the money,” he insisted.
He advised the committee to invite the SGF to speak on the matter since the PAC operated under his direct supervision.
Although, the House committee resolved
to summon the SGF, it maintained that Okogu would be requested to come
along with the SGF since the AGF’s query was raised against his office.
Olamilekan added, “We will take your
advice to look the way of the SGF. However, your presence will be needed
because the query was against your office, not the SGF.
“If the audit query had mentioned the SGF, the committee would not have invited you in the first place.
“But now that you are telling us that it
is the SGF that should account for the money, we will invite the SGF,
though you will be around when he comes.”
The National Hajj Commission also
appeared before the committee in respect of the controversial payment of
N9.7bn from the SWV between 2002 and 2012.
In one instance, while the budget office
claimed to have released N7.1bn to the commission, officials of the
agency admitted only N2bn.
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