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The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Minister of Finance to appear before it to defend allegation of padding of the nominal roll of the government.
Also to appear before the House Committee on Anti-Corruption and Public Service Matters are the Accountant General of the Federation, Auditor General for the Federation, Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Character Commission, the Officer in Charge of IPPIS
All Ministries, Departments and Agencies within the Federal Civil Service.
The summon followed failure by the agencies had failed to honour invitation to appear before the Committee investigating high level of corruption on nominal rolls of MDAs
Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Musa Bagos (PDP, Plateau) who issued the summon however did not say when the SGF, HCSOF, Minister of Finance and all others are to appear before the House.
Declaring open the investigative hearing earlier, Speaker of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila described the Civil Service as the permanent government, adding that men and women who make up the service play essential roles in ensuring the government’s smooth and continuous operations from one administration to the other.
He said this high responsibility carries with it the expectation of probity and professionalism, adding that as a result of that, the extent that the actual numbers of personnel who make up the civil service are inflated or populated by persons who ought not to be there, it is a matter of grave concern and deserves the most urgent response.
He disclosed that the House mandated its Committees on Anti-Corruption and Public Service Matters to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation to ascertain the extent of this problem, to understand the factors that have contributed to it and to propose remedial actions to ensure that the problem is adequately addressed.
While insisting that nation-building is a joint task, he said every citizen has a role to play in building a nation capable of living up to its high potential and serving the interests of all its people, stressing that the assignment before the Committees and all those working with them is to ensure that we deliver a civil service that serves Nigeria and Nigerians well.
He said “if we succeed, every citizen of this country, every foreigner who visits, lives or invests in Nigeria, as well as generations yet unborn, will benefit from that success. This is something we can aspire to, and from that aspiration, motivate ourselves to do the best we can to ensure the success of this present assignment.
“From inception, the 9th House of Representatives has made it a cardinal objective to address the causes and manifestations of public corruption in our country. To that end, the House has taken legislative action to strengthen the statutory framework of the anti-corruption agencies and ensure adequate budgetary allocations to fund their activities.
“We have used the constitutional oversight authority of parliament to ensure that funds allocated to the public service are efficiently and effectively used, and we have encouraged the use of technology to address operational deficiencies in the public service. We will continue in these efforts, as this is what the Nigerian people rightly expect of us.”