The acting Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Aghughu Adolphus has been summoned by the House of Representatives over $36.1m facility under the Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project of the World Bank.
The House Committee on Public Accounts had earlier invited Adolphus but he failed to show up on Tuesday. His representatives led by a Deputy Director, Mr. Babalola Olanrewaju could not explain to the lawmakers, the rationale behind taking the loan. Hence, the need for another summon at its public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Chairman of the House Committee, Mr. Wole Oke said it is important for the committee to know what the loan was meant for before going to sign for it. “What was your procurement plan before arriving at that figure? Or is it a reward? We need to know the programme plan and how you want to utilize the Loan,” he stressed.
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The Chairman admitted that the committee is aware of the acting Auditor-General’s journey and that there is no need to hurry things up. He therefore insisted that Mr. Adolphus should cause appearance before the committee next week Tuesday, to explain the rationale behind the loan and provide other vital information about it.
While directing the clerk to the committee to write the acting Auditor-General, Mr. Oke said: “Let him come and brief us properly. It is a loan that will be paid back and in the next 10 years now, you will leave the service of the Federation; your children and our children will be the ones that will be repaying the loans to our creditors. That is why the man himself has to come and explain to the parliament personally.”
Meanwhile, some Vice Chancellors of various Federal Universities appeared before the committee on Tuesday and blamed their inability to render their 2018-2019 audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State; Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State; Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State; and Modibbo Adams University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State were the universities that appeared before the committee.
During their appearance, the universities said the pandemic delayed the processes while in some cases; some of their governing boards could not meet to approve the available reports. They begged for more time to tidy up their records with their external auditors for the rendition.
The committee granted the prayer but summoned the External Auditor of the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, over some irregularities noticed in the 2018 audited account of the institution.
