THE House of Representatives on Thursday summoned some agencies to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday to respond to queries issued against them by the Auditor General for the Federation.
This newspaper reports that these agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Niger State Command, Investment and Security Tribunal, and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria.
The failure of the agencies to appear before the committee on Thursday angered members of the panel, some of whom said they could not accept the disrespect meted out to the House.
The position of the committee was informed by the failure of the agencies to honour previous invitations extended to them to clear themselves of the allegation of graft against them as contained in the 2019 Auditor General’s report.
Also to appear before the committee is the Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, who was directed to come prepared to justify the expenditure to the tune of N10bn as exposed by the Auditor General’s report.
The committee took exception to the behaviour of the Medical Director, who, despite his stay in office for over six years continued to ask for an extension of time to respond to allegations of diversion of public funds levied against him.
Speaking at the hearing, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, pledged the readiness of the committee to do a thorough job and expose alleged financial misconduct by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
