Reps question the AGF on the N100 billion COVID-19 funding spending

The Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, was given a 72-hour ultimatum by the House of Representatives on Wednesday regarding the submission of a comprehensive report on the allocation of the N100 billion in COVID-19 intervention funds to ministries, departments, and agencies between 2020 and 2022. The funds were approved and released by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The warning was given in Abuja by Bamidele Salam, the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, who voiced his dismay at the AGF’s inability to comply with the committee’s determination to deliver the report by October 27, 2023.

The committee was directed by the House to look into the “expenditure incurred under the COVID-19 interventions, especially in the year 2020 and up to 2022,” he said.

“Details of all releases made in accordance with the provisions of the Appropriations Act as well as other interventions captured by the releases from the Central Bank of Nigeria to different Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government,” Salam stated in a letter to the Accountant General.

I was fully notified that the letter said that the submission must be received by October 27, 2023, at the latest.

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As of right now, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has not provided that input.

That is a crucial document that will direct our actions regarding the research the home has given us to complete within a certain amount of time.

“Therefore, at the committee’s request, we are sending you (Deputy Director at the Office of the AGF) to return home and inform the Accountant General that she has defaulted. We instructed her to notify this committee to request a time extension if there were any legitimate reasons why she couldn’t make it by that date by no later than the 27th.

As a result, he gave the AGF instructions to send the report by Friday, November 3, 2023, at the latest, before business ends.

The Federal Government approved a motion on the “Alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 intervention funds from 2020 to 2022” for various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies between 2020 and 2022. This motion was adopted before the House resolution was enacted.

Nyampa Zakari, who led the debate on the motion, bemoaned the loss of lives, jobs, and economic prospects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for millions of people worldwide, including Nigerians. She emphasised the importance of parliamentarians in exposing corruption in the use of public monies.

“The House is aware that in an effort to protect its population from the COVID-19 epidemic, the Federal Government of Nigeria implemented a number of measures, including money from foreign donor agencies and budgetary provisions.

The House is also aware that the 2020 Appropriations Act allocated N83.9 billion for the COVID-19 response and that additional funds over N100 billion were provided as intervention funds through the supplemental budget and foreign donor agencies.

The House is concerned that major monies for COVID-19 palliatives and foreign donations were misappropriated and unaccounted for by a number of government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, according to the Auditor-General’s report and other sources.

According to Zakari, “The House is concerned that the Federal Government and international donor agencies’ improper accountability of funds allocated for COVID-19 intervention could potentially lead to negative economic ratings and loss of opportunities for Nigeria.”