- Written by From: Bridget Chiedu Onochie and Terhemba Daka, (Abuja)
• Urges govt to immortalise Lar• Reps may probe ex-colleagues over N31m training fund
THE Senate Tuesday quizzed the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) over N12 billion poverty reduction funds. While N10billion was discovered to have been trapped in some failed financial institutions, N150million for supply of spare parts for the tricycles otherwise known as Keke NAPEP was carted away by a contractor.
Meanwhile, the agency claimed it lacked the structural framework to possibly recover the missing funds.
The Senator Ahmed Lawan-led Committee on Public Account also said the agency paid additional N171 million as custom duties for the spare parts that were not supplied and another N605million carted away by some Keke riders under the aegis of Keke Riders Association of Nigeria (KRAN). The agency was alleged to have also paid another N1.4billion for projects that have not been verified by the Auditor General of the Federation.
Representatives of the AGF at the session told the panel that some of the contracts, which the agency had paid for, are yet to be verified.
National Coordinator, NAPEP, Alhaji Mukhtar Tafawa Balewa, told the committee that beneficiaries of the intervention fund have failed to remit another N700million revenue.
According to him, the agency had since written the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFC C) on how Auto Ban Limited had disappeared with the said N150million paid for the supply of spare parts.
Senator Lawan, who slammed the management of the agency, said it was fraudulent for NAPEP to have gone ahead to pay the sum of N171 million as custom duties for goods that were not delivered. He also queried the Auditor-General of the Federation in the handling of some projects by NAPEP.
The committee dismissed the submissions of the agency as corrupt, lies, useless and unsubstantiated and warned that some relevant management staff of the agency involved in the funding of the projects may end up in jail.
The AGF in the query presented to the Senate committee requested the agency to explain why the total unit of 988 Keke valued at N292million were yet to be supplied. The AGF specifically asked the agency to account for the shortfall of N700. 666 million of the Keke not supplied. The AGF put the unit cost of Keke at N295, 793. 00 as against N450, 000 claimed by NAPEP.
However, the coordinator of NAPEP in his defence told the panel that the only N605million was not remitted and not N700.6million as reported by the AGF. He said that the agency paid the said N171million for the spare parts that were not supplied after consultation with the Nigerian Customs Service.
The committee directed the agency to re-appear next week Monday with details of all expenditure and purchases or face sanction.
The Senate also urged the Federal Government to immortalise the late Solomon Lar, who passed on recently.
President of the Senate, David Mark, urged politicians to play the game without bitterness as a sign of honour for a man, who worked for the development of political parties and fought for the interest of the masses.
“He nurtured PDP to when it became the largest party in black Africa and he would be pained if PDP does not remain the largest party in black Africa but he would be more pained even in death if PDP does not meet the expectations of the people.
So, I think that for the sake of Lar, those of us in politics should make sure that it is played in the words of the great GNPP leader, Waziri. It should be politics without bitterness”, Mark said.
He added that Lar’s goodness cut across party boundaries and was a father figure to many including his seniors.
“When I came back from exile, Solomon Lar and Chief Barnabas Gemade were the first few people who approached me and said I must join politics. Solomon Lar always referred to me as ‘my son and my General’ and for those of you, who know him, was a down-to earth person.
“There was no pretence about what he does or say. He just say things the way he saw them and that put him on collision path with so many powerful people but I don’t think it bothered him at all. He just said whatever he thought he should say but whatever he said was in the best interest of this country.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives may probe members of the Committee on Power in the 6th Assembly over the utilization of N31million.
The decision followed the disclosure by the officials of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission that the money was made available to the committee for capacity training of its members.
But the Solomon Olamilekan-led House Committee on Public Accounts, which is looking into the books yesterday, said there was no evidence that the training took place.
The panel has also alleged that the N31million was reportedly paid in two installments of N18 million and N13million respectively to a personal aide to the Committee at that time.
Chairman of the Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi made this known when he appeared before the committee to respond to queries raised against it by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation, which covered between 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The Auditor General’s query revealed that the amount was collected by an aide to the then Chairman of the Committee for the members to attend a capacity training workshop abroad but there was no evidence that the members attended the said workshop and the money was not returned to the Commission in line with financial regulations.
Similarly, the Commission was also accused of paying $5,000 to a foreign resource person through the black market despite the readiness of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to carry out the transaction on behalf of the Commission but demanded for relevant documents that would facilitate the transaction.
According to the AGF, rather than return to the CBN with the requested documents, the Commission took the amount from the CBN and gave it to a staff that went to the black market to carry out the transaction.
The Commission was also alleged to have bought a 100kv generator at the cost of N6million for the Secretariat of the Presidential Task Force on Electricity Reform which market value was put at between N1.5million and N2.5million without following due process.
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