Reps Public Accounts Committee Directs EFCC, ICPC To Recover Over 3 Billion Naira From Two Former Labour Ministry Permanent Secretaries
Orders Four other Permanent Secretaries In Labour, Transport, Humanitarian And Women Affairs To Appear Within 72 Hours To Defend Over 65 billion Naira Audit Queries
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) to recover over N3 billion in misappropriated funds from two former Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The 2020 Auditor General’s report revealed that more than N3 billion was misappropriated under the leadership of Mr. William Nwankwo Alkali (2019-2020) and Dr. Yerima Peter Tarfa (2020-2021).
The Committee issued the directive during its sitting on Monday, following its review of the Auditor General’s report.
Committee Chairman, Rep. Bamidele Salam, disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had been invited on seven separate occasions over the past five months to answer for the allegations but had failed to appear each time.
Salam emphasized that the Auditor General raised 17 specific queries against the ministry, which include unaccounted allocations to the Geneva Labour Desk amounting to N351 million, payments without evidence of execution totaling N226 million, unretired cash advances of N344 million, and payments for consultancy services without evidence of execution amounting to N7 million.
Additionally, the report pointed to irregular procurement of vehicles totaling N47 million, abuse of cash advances amounting to N338 million, and payments for a non-existent job center amounting to N497 million.
The queries also highlighted payments for equipment not supplied, totaling N46 million, extra-budgetary expenditure on two utility vehicles amounting to N49 million, circumvention of procurement procedures totaling N32 million, and irregular payments for revenue monitoring without visible impact, amounting to N58 million.
Furthermore, payments without relevant supporting documents totaling N235 million and payments for non-existent contracts in Anambra State totaling N83.9 million were also flagged.
The report also raised issues concerning irregularities in contract execution totaling N63 million, unsubstantiated contract awards and execution totaling N67 million, and payments for contracts not executed in Kaduna, amounting to N144 million.
In reaction to the ministry’s repeated failure to attend the hearings, Hon. Zakariya Nyampa noted that, despite multiple opportunities for the ministry to present its defense, it had declined to do so.
He stated that the silence of the ministry is an admittance to the queries, the best course of action was to sustain the queries and refer the matter to the relevant anti-corruption agencies.
The chairman in his address, “This report that we see right now is a report that has gone through administrative processes by the Auditor General himself, but the constitution, in its wisdom, decided that it would not be very neat for the Auditor General to be the Alpha and Omega of this matter. That’s why the constitution says he must submit the report to the National Assembly, which refers to the Public Accounts Committee. The recommendations are there, and whenever the Auditor General makes those recommendations, he cites the relevant sections or paragraphs of the financial regulations and any other law that has been violated.”
The Committee unanimously adopted the recommendations of the Auditor General and mandated the EFCC and ICPC to investigate and invite Mr. William Nwankwo Alkali and Dr. Yerima Peter Tarfa to account for the N3 billion in misappropriated funds.
Furthermore, the Committee has given the Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Labour and Employment, Women Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, and Transport 72 hours to appear before the committee to address audit queries, or face consequences as outlined by the Auditor General and financial regulations.
The affected Permanent Secretaries—Mr. Adeleye Adeoye Ayodeji (Ministry of Transport), Dr. Salihu A. Usman (Ministry of Labour and Employment), Dr. Maryam Keshinro (Ministry of Women Affairs), and Dr. Yakubu Adam Kofarmata (Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs)—are required to account for over N65 billion in audit queries raised against their ministries.
The Public Accounts Committee hearing will continue tomorrow, featuring appearances from the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the Ministry of Interior, and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
