The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated its standing committees overseeing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to verify assets from contracts awarded by the MDAs from 2010 to date.
This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Rep. Kehinde Agboola and seven others.
Moving the motion, Agboola accused the MDAs of not giving proper accounts for their assets since 2010.
He also said that they failed to maintain adequate records of their assets as required by paragraphs 2106 and 2128 of the financial regulations.
Agboola explained that most MDAs, in proposing award of contracts for capital, consultancy and supplies, made provisions for purchase of assets such as vehicles, computers and earth moving equipment in their bills of quantity.
He, however, said that the assets were usually not purchased or accounted for, adding that in most cases, the costs were deducted from final payment to contractors without any of the assets being traced.
“This has accounted for the loss of over N2 trillion in the last five years,’’ Agboola alleged.
He also expressed concern over MDAs which disposed assets without due process and failed to pay N50 billion revenue accruing from such sales into government coffers.
“If nothing is done to check these nefarious activities, corruption will remain endemic in the public sector and revenue leakages will persist,’’ he said.
In his contribution, Rep. Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP) urged the standing committees to brace up to the challenge and ensure that they held the MDAs accountable.
(NAN)
Leave a Reply