Senate directs NPA, NHIS, BPE, 56 others to return N300bn

15 Jul Senate directs NPA, NHIS, BPE, 56 others to return N300bn

The Senate Wednesday directed 59 federal agencies to return over N300bn illegally spent from 2013 to 2015 to the federation account within 60 days..

This followed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Public Accounts on the annual report of the Auditor-General for the Federation on the accounts of the Federation for the year ended December 31, 2015 (Part I &II).

The committee observed that the Code of Conduct Bureau misappropriated N995m; the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, N1.77bn; the Nigerian Port Authority, N68.9bn, $2.3m and €196,000; the Nigerian Health Insurance Scheme, N4.35bn; the Bureau of Public Enterprise, N8.84bn; the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, N821.9m; the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, N1.88bn and the Mortgage Bank, N369m.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said 114 MDAs were queried in the 2015 audit report, 59 of which had their queries sustained after probe.

Senator Ibrahim Gobir suggested that the report be sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to recover the fund.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan said: “My advice will be, let us monitor the implementation. After the 60 days of grace, then we can take the next appropriate action.”