Categorically affirming that the INFERNO at the magnificent office
\ncomplex of the Accountant General of the Federation known as treasury
\nhouse is suspicious and scary and may not be unconnected to serial
\naccusations of financial irregularities as made by the National Assembly
\nand a cross section of NIGERIANS including the Academic Staff Union of
\nUniversities (ASUU), the nation’s most prominent Civil Rights Advocacy
\ngroup-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked
\nNigerians to demand foreinsic investigations by independent criminal
\nforensic scientists to ascertain the real motives or otherwise behind
\nthe sudden fire incident barely 24 hours after the Senate made a
\nstartling discovery of alleged monumental heist of the Schools feeding
\nprogrammes of the Federal Government of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel
\nOnwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf said
\nthat Nigerians should not accept any Cock -and- bull stories but must
\ninsists that the Nigerian Government comes clean on how it has been
\nunable to transparently render accounts of revenues generated from
\ninternal and external sources just as HURIWA alleged that there were too
\nmany things wrong with the administration of public finance by a set of
\nfederal government officials who publishes claims in the media claiming
\nthat the Nigerian Customs Service and the Federal Inland Revenue
\nServices generated multibillion revenues since the year 2015 but only
\nfor the Finance minister to be going cap -in- hand perpetually begging
\nfor foreign loans from all conceivable sovereign entities. Something is
\nnot adding up. This is why this sudden fire incident at the office of
\nthe Accountant General of the Federation that has happened barely few
\nhours after serious suspicions of misuse of public fund running into
\nbillions was raised by the usually pliant and docile National Assembly”.<\/p>\n
HURIWA stated that the fire incident was too coincidental and has
\nhappened at a time of mounting accusations of frauds and failures by the
\nFEDERAL GOVERNMENT to account for how multi-billions fund it budgeted
\nand released for the payment of N20,000 palliative to poor Nigerians to
\ncushion the effects and economic adversities created by the lockdown
\nthat was occasioned by the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA and across
\nthe World were dispensed.\u00a0 The Rights group stated also that there is
\nevery need for a transparent and an open process of investigations to be
\nactivated to unravel the remote and immediate circumstances behind the
\nfire incident at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation
\nin Abuja given that it was not more than two weeks that the Senate
\nreportedly indicted the Accountant General of the Federation for failing
\nto provide documentary evidence on the implementation of the
\ncontroversial new payment scheme known as INTEGRATED PAYROLL AND
\nPERSONNEL INFORMATION (IPPIS).<\/p>\n
Besides, HURIWA wants the National Assembly to go beyond the mere
\ndramatization of the accusations of monumental heist by some officials
\nin the Presidency responsible for the School Feeding Programme in which
\na whopping amount of N12 billion is spent monthly without the
\nobservation and absolute adherence to the time tested and time honoured
\nprovisions of the nationally binding law of the procurement mechanisms
\nas provided by the Procurement Act of the Federation just as HURIWA
\ncarpeted the National Assembly leadership for failing to insists on
\ngetting the names of the consultant that collects N100 million mothly
\nfrom the failed school feeding programmes of the federation mired in a
\nslew of financial malfeasance for long. “The oversight functions of the
\nNational Assembly is not to be used to stage media drama to buy
\naccolades from the people of Nigeria. The Constitution empowers the
\nNarional Assembly to unravel dubious activities around the spending of
\npublic resources, name, shame and recommend for prosecution by the
\nrelevant anti corruption bodies. Nobody in government must be treated as
\na sacred cow. When the legislative powers of the Federation is turned
\ninto a joke then the essence of constitutional democracy is miserably
\nabused”.<\/p>\n
” HURIWA\u00a0 strongly believes that the Fire which\u00a0 on Wednesday gutted the
\nTreasury House which is the office of the Accountant General of the
\nFederation in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is too suspicious to
\nbe dismissed as a mere accident or happenstance.\u00a0 This incident as is
\nnotorious in Nigeria that public officials are known to always set their
\noffices ablaze in a bid to cover up their tracks. This time around there
\nare series of questions being asked by all and sundry on how over N60
\nbillion or so was reportedly blown away by the federal government in the
\nguise of implementing conditional cash transfer to some ghosts and some
\npolitical nitwitts rather than to the millions of poor Nigerians all
\nacross board. How did these cash got shared and frittered away in few
\nhours? To whom did these humonguous cash get to and where are their
\nrecords since the National Assembly only Yesterday raised alarm and 24
\nhours later there was fire at the office of the Accountant General of
\nthe Federation? We are not accusing anyone of theft. We have not called
\nany officer of the federal government a thieg but certainly we smelt a
\nrat. But what we know is that this fire is too suspicious to be
\ndismissed as a mere accident or happenstance. We must get to the roots
\nof this scam. As learnt it was gathered that the fire started from
\naround the third floor, razing the building upwards including the
\nAccountant General’s office and most of the important offices.”<\/p>\n
“HURIWA recalled that around February 18th of this Year the Senate’s
\nPublic Accounts Committee adjourned abruptly\u00a0 following the inability of
\nthe Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to give details
\nof the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.IPPIS is an
\nInformation Communications Technology project initiated by the Federal
\nGovernment of Nigeria to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of
\npayroll administration for its Ministries, Departments and Agencies but
\nhas faced a series of opposition and accusations of frauds.
\nHURIWA recalled that the Accountant General was not available to answer
\nan audit query raised against his office but his representative, who is
\na director in his office, Adiro Emmanuel, was unable to answer questions
\nasked him by members of the Senate panel.The senators expressed anger
\nover the director’s inability to provide necessary documents pertaining
\nto the IPPIS account put at N2.9bn. Unhappy that they could not achieve
\nmuch with the probe, members of the Senate panel called for immediate
\nadjournment of proceedings.The Chairman of the panel, Senator Mathew
\nUrhoghide, adjourned the session and gave the Accountant General, two
\nweeks to tidy his documents and make himself available to the panel.The
\nAccountant General was also unable to provide satisfactory response to
\nwhy Nigeria’s share of funds dropped drastically from N200bn to N165bn
\nin 2015.
\nOn the query concerning the N596bn Ecological Fund and why the fund was
\nnot invested to yield more money for Nigeria, the Accountant General’s
\nexplanation that it was against CBN policy to do so wasn’t satisfactory
\nto the lawmakers.”<\/p>\n
“HURIWA smells a rat in this reported inferno at the office of the
\nAccountant General of the Federation and we strongly condemn all these
\nshameful acts of something that appears to be an attempt to cover up so
\nmany cases of miapplicarion of public fund. This is not how to
\nadminister the commonwealth of our Countrt. The earlier we fish out bad
\neggs and punish them the better gor all us. Allegations of monumental
\nfraud perpetrated at the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) reportedly
\ncreated a lot of indignation amongst the leadership of the National
\nAssembly even as the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and the
\nSpeaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, made their
\nreservations at a meeting with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs,
\nDisaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq and
\nsome top officials of the ministry in Abuja.”<\/p>\n
HURIWA asked Nigerians to meticulously note that the two presiding
\nNational Assembly officers called for the immediate suspension of the
\nregister used for the scheme when informed by officials that accompanied
\nthe minister to the gathering that some N12 billion was being paid
\nmonthly for the school feeding programme without verification. “This
\ncall was made only Yesterday and now the fire. Who is fooling who?”<\/p>\n
“HURIWA\u00a0 as well as millions of Nigerians have been reliably told that
\nanother issue that provoked the Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Speaker
\nof the House of Representatives Mr. Femi Gbajbabiamila was the N100
\nmillion monthly payment to an unnamed consultant that purportedly
\nhandles some aspects of the project.”<\/p>\n
HURIWA continued thus: ” Nigerians are invited to note that the
\nHumanitarian Affairs minister Hajia Farouq reportedly informed the
\nNational Assembly leaders that she inherited the “mess.”<\/p>\n
“HURIWA\u00a0 is worried that the National Assembly failed to dig further
\nwith a view to ascertaining how these huge cash was spent following the
\ndisclosure that the minister was said to have told the lawmakers that
\nshe does not understand why the school feeding project was adopted for
\nCOVID-19, adding that “even other programmes have so many inadequacies
\nthat her ministry is still trying to unravel. HURIWA seriously think the
\nfire incident at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation
\nhas the signature of something senister and suspicious\u00a0 given that even
\nthe minister of Humanitarian Affairs admitted that there were
\ninadequacies in the administration of the huge fund meant for the School
\nFeeding programme”.<\/p>\n
Categorically affirming that the INFERNO at the magnificent office complex of the Accountant General of the Federation known as treasury house is suspicious and scary and may not be unconnected…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n