The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee will on Tuesday question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged financial infractions amounting to over N802.19 billion.
The officials are to respond to queries contained in the Auditor-General for the Federation’s reports for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years.
The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam (Ede North/Ede South/Ejigbo/Egbedore, Osun), is empowered by the 1999 Constitution and House Rules to examine public accounts and investigate alleged revenue losses and financial breaches.
A member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reportedly said NNPCL has about N514 billion in audit queries from 2021, while INEC has about N288.19 billion from 2022 and 2023.
According to the audit findings, the NNPCL queries include alleged irregular deductions of N343.64 billion from domestic crude sales, N83.66 billion reportedly warehoused from miscellaneous revenue in a sinking fund account, and N82.95 billion in unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.
For INEC, the committee will examine issues relating to procurement, contractor payments and failure to remit statutory deductions during the tenure of former Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who has since been appointed an ambassador.
The commission is also expected to explain expenditure for the 2019 general election, including payment of over N5.31 billion for smart card readers without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement, as flagged in the 2022 audit report. The devices were used in 2019 before INEC adopted the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in 2023.
Other agencies scheduled to appear before the committee include the National Mathematical Centre, National Power Training Centre, National Research Institute for Chemical Technology and the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency.
The audit queries do not in themselves establish wrongdoing, as the affected agencies are expected to provide explanations and supporting documents before the committee reaches a conclusion.