Worried by subtle attempt to frustrate various investigative hearings initiated by the Parliament, the House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the erring heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to resign from office.
Hon Aniekan Umanah, Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee investigating the failure of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to release Retention Funds due to beneficiaries, years after project completion, gave the charge in Abuja, who expressed concern over the breach of the 5% Value Added Tax for contracts awarded in 2020 by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) in breach of the law signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Hon Umanah expressed displeasure over the lackadaisical attitude of some public servants and political appointees toward national matters.
He lamented that the abuse of extant financial regulations remains “inimical to the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs) as it denies them the much-needed capital to stay afloat while the port of these funds formed part of N 1.2 trillion the Fiscal Responsibility Commission accused about 122 MDAs of failure to remit in 2020.”
“Let me use this opportunity to frown at the continued attitude of heads and leaderships ministries, departments and parastatals towards parliamentary invitations. I do not think that there is anything more important, except if so communicated or there is a formal excuse for invitations to be flouted. It is not good for the health of democracy; it is not good for the health of the institution.
“I believe that parliamentary invitation should be respected by MDAs. And we are not coming to joke here; we are coming to look at funds appropriated by parliament to agencies.
“We are coming to review complaints by members of the public who own the Nigerian money. When they have issues and they draw parliamentary attention, and we have reasons to look at them and we invite agencies, we expect that they should at least honour such invitation in a reasonable time or cause communication to get to Parliament, to understand why they are unable to.
“But fragrantly just staying away from under the guise of anything; it does not make any sense. The public holiday is not today. All of us should enjoy the holiday. We also have where to go to.
“So, why are we here? Why are the rest of the stakeholders here? We sound this as a very strong message to the MDAs to always understand that when there is work to do, we should do that work.
“Anybody who is not comfortable doing the work that they are given to do can very happily resign and we can know that they are not interested in the work. And I think we should take our work very seriously, no matter what. Even if it is a public holiday and it becomes important that we solve a certain problem, we can at least do so in the interest of our nation,” Hon Umanah said.
In his keynote address, the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila expressed grave concern over the flagrant breach of extant financial laws and regulations demanded accountability of public funds.
“On Tuesday, the 23rd of March 2021, the House of Representatives resolved to investigate the reasons why ministries, departments, and agencies have routinely failed to payout, or return to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the retention funds withheld by them as part of the procurement processes in the different institutions.
“This public hearing is in partial fulfilment of that resolution, and I thank you all for being here this morning to participate. Retention funds are not intended to be converted by the ministries, departments, and agencies of government.
“Where those funds are not paid out as required by the law, they ought to be properly accounted for, and refunded to the coffers of the Federal Government to address the substantial revenue shortfalls resulting from the ongoing collapse in the international value of fossil fuels, as well as significant contraction in the global and local economy owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and other adverse factors.
“Where this has not been done, it is a violation of the law, and those involved in this practice will because of this investigation account for the use of these funds.
“This public hearing and the mandate of the Ad-hoc committee is in fulfilment of our commitment in the 9th House to ensure due process practices in the management of public finances.
“As such, I want to personally as all stakeholders, heads of ministries, departments and agencies who may be invited to participate in this public hearing and any other activities of the Committee to engage with good faith, and in the knowledge that we are all engaged in the difficult yet necessary work of building a nation where all government actions are underpinned by clue process and the rule of law.”
“However, it is pertinent to note that that the idea of this investigative hearing is a direct response to the yearning of the public outcry with the need to resolve some pending issues in a contractual relationship with various MDAs.
“Therefore, the intention of this assignment is to strengthen governance processes and procedures in doing business and to further enhance trust with every player doing business with the government. It must not be misinterpreted for any ulterior motives or avenue for any witch-hunt. We trust that the outcome we tendered to plenary will be of immense benefits to government and the public and will further enhance the growth of the MDAs and other players,” the Speaker said.
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