Reps query alleged diversion of PTDF’s fund

[MrVan]

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA — Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Solomon Adeola, yesterday, expressed concern over the alleged diversion of over N2.8 trillion which accrued to the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) account by a past administration.

Adeola, who had an interactive session with management team from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation led by Jonah Otunba further disclosed that an audit examination of the statement of consolidated revenue fund for year ended December 31, 2006 revealed a shortfall in revenue collection worth N81,904,469,177.27 on eight heads of recurrent revenue.

The committee, during the scrutiny of the report, also queried the N94 billion fund  which accrued to ecological account and requested the submission of the mandates as well as inflow and outflow statements for 2006 within four days.

The report also raised questions on the utilisation of multi-million naira grants and donations by international agencies to many federal ministries, extra-ministerial departments and agencies for implementation of specific programmes which are beneficial to the nation.

Adeola and other members of the committee had queried the rationale behind the diversion of public funds without due process and recourse to the Minister of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Adeola also expressed concern over the unilateral diversion of N250 million from the PTDF account for registration of Galaxy Backbone and additional N625 million for its operational activities. He further queried the deduction of N593 million from N2.5 trillion fund domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, noting that management of PTDF used it to finance departments of government for outsourcing unstated programmes which were  not in the books.

Said he: "I agree with the Auditor General that there are a lot of problems in the Petroleum Trust Development Fund and the account as reported by the Auditor General has been shrouded in secrecy and that particular account  was not made known to us."

While making clarifications concerning the disbursement of funds from the PTDF account, Mr Babayaro, a Director in charge of signature bonus account, noted that the approval for the release of the PTDF funds was by fiat  from the Presidency.

The committee has, therefore, summoned the management of  22 Federal Government agencies as well as Debt Management Office (DMO) to explain how the monies were sourced and spent.

While responding to queries raised in the 2006 audit report, Jonah Otunba, Accountant General of the Federation, explained that the OAGF was still expecting responses from PTDF on the queries raised by the office of the Auditor General.

He also threatened that the committee would involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ensure the recovery of the loans trapped in liquidated public companies.

Vanguard Nigeria