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- Pix(above, R-L): Senate President Ahmad Lawan and PMB
The Senate of the National Assembly is presently probing the State House of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), among a whole lot of 207 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to give account of N4.94 trillion disbursed to them from the Service Wide Votes (SWV) in the last five years.
The invitation for their probe is contained in a circular titled: “Special oversight on the expenditure of funds received from Service Wide Votes (SWV) between 2017 and 2021” is signed by the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) Chairman, Matthew Urhoghide, and Clerk, S. D. Umar.
Others being quizzed by the SPAC include; Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB), among numerous others.
The probe which began on October 11 is expected to end on December 13, 2022, according to the circular being sighted.
The SWV, also known as the Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge, is essentially the nation’s contingency fund embedded in annual budgets.
According to SPAC, the expenditure from the fund rose from N887 billion in 2017 to N1.93trillion in 2022, noting that “the probe was targeted at ensuring compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, Senate Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and other extant laws.”
The circular reads inter alia: “The Senate Public Accounts Committee in the exercise of its mandate of ensuring accountability and transparency in the use of the public funds embarked on a Special Oversight on Expenditure of Funds disbursed to MDAs from Service Wide Votes between January 2017 and December 2021.
“The exercise aims to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitution, Senate Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, and other extant laws.
“It is also intended to review the rising trend in disbursement from the Service Wide Votes from about N887,008,900,486 in 2017 to about N1,930,782,172,797 in 2022.
“The submission from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation showed that about N4,942,667,747,674.94 was released from the fund for the years under review.
“MDAs that received money from the Service Wide Votes were written to make submissions and subsequently appear before the Committee to defend their submissions.”
The committee’s breakdown shows that the State House received N73 billion from the SWV; the CBN – N4billion; EFCC – 5.91 billion; the National Assembly – N73. 9 billion; Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation – N978 billion; Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning – N68. 9 billion; AMCON, N8.4 billion and JAMB – N113. 81billion.
The Ministry of Defence received N579.6 billion; Nigerian Army – N106. 9 billion; Nigerian Air Force – N14.5 billion; the Nigeria Police Force – N115. 95 billion; Head of the Civil Service of the Federation – N16.81 billion; Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs – N403.96 billion; Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs – N182.5 billion during the period; just as National Social Investment Programme received N44.51 billion; Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) – N209,98 billion; and Federal Ministry of Health – N30 billion.
The National Pension Commission received N431.79 billion; and Presidential Amnesty Programme – N20,42 billion.
“The committee enjoined all the MDAs and security agencies concerned to adhere strictly to the schedule for their appearance as it “will not entertain any request for rescheduling,” it further stressed./SHARE THIS
- Tags: The Senate, Sen. President Ahmad Lawan, Matthew Urhoghide, Clerk, S. D. Umar, MDAs, PMB