The ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the lack of remittances to the National Housing Fund (NHF) and the use of the funds, says the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, must appear before him.
The committee says he should appear before him on September 7 or face a warrant for his arrest.
The committee said this at the resume of its session in Abuja on Thursday when the Director of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) appeared before it for failing to make remittances to NHF.
The committee had invited IPPIS, a department of the AGF Office, to explain why it had not remitted money to NHF.
However, concerned by the information provided by the IPPIS director, the committee said that the AGF should appear in person.
A letter submitted by the IPPIS Director to explain why the AGF was unable to appear today did not assuage the committee’s sentiments, forcing the committee to reinvite Ms. Madein.
The committee said that the IPPIS director was unable to answer most of the questions put to him, adding that he should accompany the AGF and be prepared to provide further explanations on September 7.
Committee chairman Dachung Bagos said: “We cannot accept the same man who could not give us the information we need from the Federation Accountant General’s Office.
“The speaker requested a fair hearing from us and we don’t want anyone to see us as witch hunters. We would give the fair hearing so that the AGF would appear another day”.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that IPPIS had claimed it was having difficulties sending remittances to NHF.
The committee also asked Remital, a private organization that sends the funds, to also reappear on September 7 because IPPIS was not ready to answer the committee’s questions.
The committee chairman praised Reital for coming before him with the necessary documents. He blamed IPPIS for not having the necessary documents to question the organization.
Also appearing at the inquiry hearing are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank and Heritage Bank.
Bagos said that it was necessary to know the investment of the banking sector in accordance with the NHF Law which created the NHF.
In his presentation, UBA Director General Eke Ogba said that he had remitted around 2.5 billion Naira from January 2011 to July 2023 to the NHF.
“This is a huge sum. We have given the summary monthly. We have also given the summary of what is discounted monthly to each worker.
“I have no investment knowledge; we just deduct and remit. I will receive the details of the investment; all we have is how much has been deducted from each staff member,” she said.
(YAYA)