The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to invite two former Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Labour, Williams Alo and Yerima Tafa, for questioning over alleged financial mismanagement amounting to N3.2bn.
The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam, representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency in Osun State, expressed frustration over the persistent refusal of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to honour its summons.
Salam lamented that despite writing to the Ministry of Labour seven times, it failed to respond or provide documents to clear the 32 audit queries raised against it in the 2020 audit report.
“Although the Auditor General for the Federation made specific recommendations, the committee decided to write the ministry, giving them the opportunity to defend themselves. However, the minister has consistently refused to honour the invitation,” Salam stated.
The committee held Alo and Tafa responsible for the financial infractions, arguing that, as accounting officers at the time, they should be held liable.
It also gave the current Permanent Secretary, Saliu Usman, 72 hours to appear before the committee regarding seven audit queries from the 2021 financial year or risk having the Auditor General’s recommendations upheld.
“Today, we were expecting to have the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, which has six major queries raised by the Auditor General. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has seven major queries, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has five, and the Federal Ministry of Transportation has five queries against it,” Salam said.
He emphasised the need to plug revenue leakages, stressing that an effective auditing system is crucial for financial accountability.
“One of the ways to do this is to ensure we have an effective auditing system in place, as well as proper processing of audit queries by the National Assembly through the Public Accounts Committee. Civil society organisations and the public have often criticised the National Assembly for not doing enough to check MDAs and ensure they deliver on the government’s agenda,” he added.
The committee revealed specific instances of financial irregularities in the Ministry of Labour, including an unaccounted allocation of N351m to the Geneva Labour Desk despite prior parliamentary appropriation.
It also flagged N226m paid for projects without execution, N344m in unretired cash advances, N7m for unexecuted consultancy services, and N238m in cash advance policy violations.
Further concerns included N497m paid for non-existent job centres in three states, N144m for an unexecuted contract in Kaduna, and N67m in unsubstantiated contract awards.
The Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Transportation, Women Affairs, and Humanitarian Services—Adeleye Ayodeji, Mariam Keshero, and Yakubu Adams Kofamata—were also given 72 hours to appear before the committee.