Juliet Akoje in Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (IPCC) to invite two former Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Labour – Williams Alo and Yerima Tafa – over a N3,201,583,662.65 alleged financial infraction while in office.
The Committee raised concern over the increasing disregard for the committee and the parliament by Ministries, Department and Agencies of government by refusing to honour invitations to respond to audit queries issued by the Auditor General for the Federation.
Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, who announced the resolution yesterday, said the Committee had written seven different letters to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to appear before the committee without any response and without giving any reason for not appearing.
Salam said the Ministry also failed to provide the relevant documents needed to clear them of the 32 audit queries against them from the 2020 audit report, adding that although the Auditor General for the Federation made specific recommendations, the Committee decided to write the Ministry, allowing them to defend themselves.
He said the Minister consistently refused to honour the invitation.
“The Senate Committee on Public Accounts had to issue a statement against some MDAs for their refusal to appear,” adding that the House Committee “will not continue to waste its time inviting agencies that will not respect the constitutional authority of the National Assembly.”
“Williams Alo and Yerima Tafa who were the Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry when the infraction took place should be held liable for the infraction since they were the accounting officers in the ministry,” he added.
Also, the committee gave the current Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Saliu Usman 72 hours to appear before them to respond to the seven audit queries from the Auditor General for the 2021 financial year or risk having the committee upholding the recommendations of the Auditor General.
The Permanent Secretaries in the Federal ministries of Transportation, Women Affairs and Humanitarian Services, Adeleye Ayodeji, Mariam Keshero and Yakubu Adams Kofamata respectively are also to appear before the committee within the next 72 hours.
The Chairman of the committee said the committee was making every effort to address queries contained in both the 2020 and 2021 audit report before the 2022 report would be submitted in April.
