The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) issued a directive on Thursday, compelling the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments to refund N75 billion allocated as COVID-19 intervention funds.
The decision came in response to the non-appearance of ministry officials at the investigative hearing conducted by PAC.
The motion to mandate the refund was initiated by Bassey Akiba, a Labour Party member from Cross River State, during the committee’s sitting at the National Assembly.
PAC had invited 59 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies for an investigative hearing on the alleged mismanagement of funds designated to combat the global health pandemic.
The hearing, initially scheduled for January 17, was moved to Thursday to express solidarity with the government and people of Oyo State after an explosion in the state capital, Ibadan.
Despite multiple invitations extended to the Ministry, its officials failed to attend the hearing. Committee Chairman Bamidele Salam expressed dissatisfaction with the Ministry’s non-compliance, stating, N75 billion Naira was appropriated to them.
The former Permanent Secretary and the current Permanent Secretary are affected by this motion to refund the sum of N75 billion back to the Federal Government as COVID-19 intervention funds, which as far as we are concerned, has not been expended.
The committee also directed the Federal Ministry of Health to return N10 billion earmarked for the production of COVID-19 vaccines, which remained unutilized.
Unlike the Trade Ministry, the Health Ministry sent a representative, Permanent Secretary Daju Kachallom, who explained that the funds were with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
The committee emphasized the need for the money to be returned, allowing the Ministry to reapply to the National Assembly if the funds are still required.
In a parallel development, the committee instructed Salihijo Ahmed, Director General of the Rural Electrification Agency, to submit detailed documents outlining the utilization of the agency’s COVID-19 Intervention funds.