THE House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has summoned the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, over an outstanding debt of ₦75 billion owed to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
News Point Nigeria reports that, according to a statement seen by TheCable on Saturday, Oyedele and Ogunjimi have been directed to appear before the committee on Thursday to provide a timeline for repaying the outstanding UBEC debt.
The resolution followed concerns raised by committee members over the deduction and borrowing of funds belonging to critical government agencies without clear guidelines, prior notification or agreed repayment terms.
The committee insisted that arbitrary deductions from agency funds must end, stressing that all inter-agency borrowings, including government-to-government financial arrangements, must be governed by clearly defined terms and conditions.
“For each borrowing, there should be terms and conditions attached. We want to know what your plan is. You borrowed money for certain reasons, but you should be willing to return it within a specific period, even without interest, since it is government-to-government,” the committee said.
It further maintained that agencies borrowing funds must provide clear repayment dates and assurances that the financial operations of affected institutions would not be undermined.
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Jeremiah Umaru, the deputy chairman of the committee, expressed concern over the implications of the outstanding funds for basic education, describing UBEC’s interventions as critical to national development.
Committee members also expressed dissatisfaction with the reported practice of deducting as much as 50 per cent of the revenue of some government agencies on a monthly and quarterly basis without clearly established regulatory frameworks.
They warned that such deductions could cripple the affected institutions, leaving them unable to meet personnel costs and other essential operational obligations.
“The agencies cannot do anything now because of those deductions. They use these monies to pay staff and fund their operations, but they can no longer do so because the funds have been taken without prior notification,” the committee members observed.
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Responding to the concerns, Ezeoke Christopher, a deputy director in the Accountant-General’s office, acknowledged the borrowings, describing them as internal arrangements designed to bridge funding shortfalls and meet statutory obligations, including personnel costs.
The Accountant-General’s office also said efforts had been made to refund as much as ₦90 billion.
