Tag: Senate Probe

Senate probes NNPCL, NIMASA, 772 others

Aminu Imam
Senate probes

The 10th Senate is probing the financial records of 774 federal agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) based on the queries raised against them in the 2019 report of the Auditor-General for the Federation. The Chairman, Senate Public Account Committee, Aliyu Wadada, disclosed this on Friday in Nasarawa State, while speaking with newsmen. He said, “We are currently looking into the books of 774 Ministries, Department and Agencies, (MDAs), to see what was appropriated to them and check whether…

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Senate investigates Ajaokuta Steel coy over $496m settlement

Aminu Imam

The Senate yesterday resolved to carry out a thorough investigation on the affairs of Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd and the National Ore Mining Company in Kogi State from 2008 to date. It planned to unravel the mystery behind the payment of $496m allegedly made to Pramod Mittal, Chairman, Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd by the Federal Government in September 2022 as a settlement over said contractual disputes. It also resolved to investigate the circumstances that led to the re-concession of NIOMCO even when the initial Concession Agreement was validly terminated by…

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NIPOST N10bn restructuring funds missing; Senate orders probe

Aminu Imam

The N10 billion naira earmarked by the Federal Government to restructure Nigeria’s Postal Service, (NIPOST), has allegedly gone missing. This has led to the Senate ordering a probe into the missing restructuring funds released by the Federal Ministry of Finance. The Senate allegedly discovered that illegal transfers were made to private individuals from two subsidiaries (NIPOST Properties and Development Company and Transport and Logistics Services Limited). The resolution reads: “The sum of N10 billion released by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalisation be investigated and the…

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Senate to probe FG’s N250bn Gas Expansion programme

Aminu Imam

The Nigerian Senate would on November 30 begin an investigative hearing into the over N250 billion disbursed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fifteen companies under the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) Intervention Fund. A notice signed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, called on the beneficiaries to appear before the panel with “progress reports, location of projects, and current status of projects”. Companies affected include: Dangote Oil Refinery, Delta State Government, NIPCO Gas Ltd, NIPCO Plc, HYDE Energy Ltd, LEE Engineering and Construction…

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$10m Monthly Gas Deal: Senators demands probe of ex-Finance Minister, Zainab

Aminu Imam

Senators yesterday shielded former Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, from a probe over a monthly payment of $10 million Make Up Gas (MUG) reprocessing deal. Concerns about the controversial payment was raised at plenary by Sen. Aniekan, Bassey (Akwa-Ibom Northeast) on the need to investigate the controversial Make up Gas (Mug) Reprocessing Deal involving the Federal Ministry of Finance, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Calabar Generation Company Limited, and ACUGAS Ltd. In a Motion he sponsored, Bassey had argued that the federal, states and local governments owned NDPHC had…

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Fraudulent N1tr Spending: Senate Audit Report indicts Heads of MDAs

Aminu Imam

The Senate has said President Muhammadu Buhari failed to act on a report that indicted top management of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), who have allegedly spent well over N1 trillion fraudulently. The indictment of the MDAs by the Senate, on Wednesday, was sequel to the consideration of the Senator Matthew Urhoghide–led Senate Committee on Public Accounts reports of 2017 and 2018 of Auditor General of the Federation, (AuGF). Addressing newsmen after the presentation of the reports, the Vice-Chairman of Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, said,…

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Senate panel indicts AGF over unbudgeted N74bn social benefit

Aminu Imam

The Senate has sustained the indictment of Accountant-General of the Federation for paying N74 billion as social benefits without a breakdown in the 2016 budget. The Auditor-General of the Federation in the 2016 report had raised concern over the payment of N262.4 billion as social benefits against the N188 billion provided for in the budget resulting in extra-budgetary payment of N74 billion without breakdown. The query reads: “The total cost for social benefits amounted to N262.3 billion, whereas the budget amount for the period was N188 billion as contained in…

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Senate probes N1.7tr security votes to MDAs

Aminu Imam

The Senate, through its standing Committee on Public Accounts, has begun a probe of over 1.7 trillion service-wide votes allocated to federal agencies from 2017 to 2021 budgets. The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Matthew Urhogbide, who made this known during the meeting of the committee, said beneficiary government agencies needed to give explanations on how they utilised the fund. He added that service-wide votes were a disbursement for shortfall in capital and overheads. A service-wide vote, which is also known as the Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge, is more or…

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Senate probes N400bn abandoned PHC projects initiated by Obasanjo

Aminu Imam

The Senate has mandated its joint Committees on Health, Primary Health Care and Communicable Disease, Works, and Housing to investigate the abandoned N400 billion naira National Primary Health Centre (PHC) project initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo across the 774 Local government areas in the country. The resolution was reached yesterday during plenary by the Senate after it considered a Motion to that effect. The Motion, titled: “Need to investigate the abandoned Four Hundred Billion Naira National Primary Health Center Project”, was sponsored by Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe (Kwara-Central). Senator Oloriegbe,…

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How NDDC top management shared N4.9bn as medical checkups allowance, Senate report reveals

Ishaku Yohanna

More revelations are coming up concerning the alleged financial recklessness in theNiger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). A Senate report which was obtained on Monday in Abuja showed how the top management of the agency shared N4.9bn among themselves. However, it was done in the guise of medical checkups at a time when Nigeria was under lockdown to check COVID-19 spread. The Senate report also showed that the management paid N114.9m as a supplementary medical allowance to 26 staff members during the same period. The report indicated that the monies were…

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