On Thursday, the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee instructed the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments to repay the N75bn designated for COVID-19 intervention funds.
This decision resulted from a motion by Bassey Akiba, a Labour Party member from Cross River State, prompted by the ministry officials’ absence during the investigative hearing. The PAC had previously summoned 59 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies for an inquiry into alleged mishandling of funds intended for combating the global health pandemic.
Originally scheduled for January 17, the hearing was moved to Thursday to express solidarity with Oyo State following Tuesday’s explosion in Ibadan.
Commencing the session, Akiba proposed the motion to compel the ministry’s refund, which the committee endorsed, directing the repayment to the Federal Government’s coffers. Committee Chairman Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun State) expressed disappointment over the ministry’s repeated failure to attend despite multiple invitations.
Salam said, “The Federal Ministry of Trade, Industries and Investments got the sum of N75bn as COVID-19 Intervention funds. The Public Account Committee has sent invitations to the Ministry of Trade Industries and Investments three times, and none of the invitations was honoured
“The Federal Ministry of Trade was to make their appearance yesterday (Wednesday). That was the last opportunity given to them and there was no such appearance. N75bn Naira was appropriated to them.
“Former Permanent Secretary and the current Permanent Secretary are affected by this motion to refund the sum of N75bn back to the Federal Government as COVID-19 intervention funds which as far as we are concerned,has not been expended.”
The committee also instructed the Federal Ministry of Health to refund the unspent N10bn allocated for COVID-19 vaccine production to the Federal Government.
In contrast to the Trade Ministry, the Health Ministry had a representative, Permanent Secretary Daju Kachallom, who disclosed that the funds were held by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. Despite this, the committee mandated the return of the funds, allowing the Ministry to reapply to the National Assembly if necessary.
Additionally, the Committee directed the Director General of the Rural Electrification Agency, Salihijo Ahmed, to furnish documentation outlining the utilization of the agency’s COVID-19 Intervention funds. Although the DG requested more time to submit relevant documents during the investigative hearing, the Committee set a deadline for Friday and instructed him to reappear on Monday at 10 am.
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