The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has given a 48-hour deadline for accounting for the N13.9 billion Service Wide vote collected between 2017 and 2021.
Senator Mathew Uroghide, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, issued the ultimatum during an investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
The directive came as a result of the Permanent Secretary, William Alo, being unable to effectively defend the Ministry’s N13.9 billion expenditure before the panel.
Alo was unable to produce documentary evidence, leaving the panelists perplexed about the Ministry’s impunity.
Midway through the investigation, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary and Director of Finance pleaded for more time to produce supporting documents.
The request enraged lawmakers, who revealed that the Committee had been fighting for four months to have Ministry officials appear before it.
“Based on records made available to the committee from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, a total of N13.9 billion was disbursed to the Ministry from the Service Wide votes for special capital project execution from 2017 to 2021,” Senator Uroghide said.
The lawmaker stated that the Committee has written several invitation letters, but the officials continue to refuse.
“Only for you to come here today along with the DFA of the Ministry to beg for more time which would not be granted beyond Thursday this week because the committee must submit report to the Senate on how your Ministry and many of the other MDAs are running away from explanations on spendings made from the Service Wide Votes,” he said.
Uroghide stated that the committee’s investigation revealed that government officials spent Service Wide Votes recklessly and demanded that the Ministry of Communications explain how the fund was spent.
However, the committee agreed to hear the embattled Permanent Secretary again on Thursday.
