The House of Reps Committee on Public Accounts, on Monday. kicked off a full-scale probe into the alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 intervention funds by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
In October 2023, a member of the Reps, Nyampa Zakari, moved a motion for the probe of MDAs, accusing them of mismanaging funds totalling N183.9 billion meant to address the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2023.
Addressing the opening session, the committee chairman, Bamidele Salam, warned MDAs that the committee would not listen to pleas for an extension of time.
He said, “The committee is probing over 60 MDAs over several billions of naira intervention funds allocated to them during the COVID-19 and we have given them enough time to prepare for this exercise.
“The committee will not entertain any extension of time from any of the MDAs. The Committee is not after any individual or groups, we are going to be diligent in carrying out our assignment.”
This is just as the lawmaker charged the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to make available relevant and competent personnel to assist the committee in delivering its assignment.
Some of the MDAs that appeared before the committee on Monday included Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi State; Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Federal Road Maintenance Agency, among others.
