31st August, 2023
By Femi Ogunshola
Again, the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating non-remittance to the National Housing Fund (NHF) and misappropriation of funds, has summoned Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
The committee says she must appear before it on September 7 or face arrest.
This was communicated on Thursday, when the Director, Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), appeared before it over non-remittance to NHF.
Earlier, the committee had invited IPPIS, an Office of AGF department, to explain why it had not remitted to NHF.
However, alarmed by the information provided by the IPPIS director, the committee requested that the AGF appear in person.
A letter brought by the Director of IPPIS to explain why the AGF could not appear today did not appease the committee, forcing them to re-invite Madein.
The committee stated that the IPPIS director could not answer most of the questions posed to him, and that he should come with the AGF and be prepared to explain further on September 7.
Rep Dachung Bagos, the Chairman of the committee, said, “we cannot take the same man that could not give us the information we need from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“The speaker requested for fair hearing from us and we wouldn’t want to be seen as witch hunting anyone. We would give the fair hearing for the AGF to appear another day.”
IPPIS claimed it was having difficulty remitting to NHF.
The committee also requested that Remital, a private organisation that remits funds, appear on Sept. 7 because IPPIS was not prepared to answer committee questions.
While commending Remital for appearing before it with the necessary documents, the committee’s chairman blamed IPPIS for not being prepared with the necessary documents to question the organisation.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, and Heritage Bank are also present at the investigation hearing.
Bagos stated that the NHF Act, which established the NHF, required knowledge of banking sector investments.
In his presentation, Mr. Eke Ogba, the General Manager of UBA, said it had remitted about N2.5 billion from January 2011 to July 2023 to NHF.
“This is a huge sum. We have given the summary monthly. We have also given the summary of what is deducted monthly on each worker.
“I do not have the knowledge of investment; we only deduct and remit. I will get the details of the investment; all we have is how much has been deducted from each staff member, ” he said.
NAN