Senate Committee on Public Accounts has given the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance 48 hours to provide sensitive documents relating to disbursement of Service Wide Votes (SWV) as well as missing N113 million on salary adjustment for Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) or risk arrest by next week. SWV is also known as Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge.
The Guardian gathered that the committee chaired by Sen. Matthew Urhoghide had written to the ministry on October 20, 2022 (and the letter was received on October 21) to appear and give details of funds released to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the police and armed forces.
Another letter was written to the ministry on December 8 concerning the missing N113 million of salary augmentation for JAMB.
While the record from the office of Accountant General of the Federation indicated that the N113 million was released to JAMB in May 2017 for salary augmentation, the ministry was invited to clarify the matter at the committee’s room, yesterday, but the ministry officials failed to appear.
Director of Finance and Accounts in JAMB, Mufutau Bello, claimed that the N113 million was not released to the board, arguing that if the money were released, it would have cut across the whole year.
According to Bello, it will cut across all MDAs using Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS); if there is a shortfall in May, it will spread to the whole year.
Piqued by the absence of the permanent secretary, Urhoghide gave him 48 hours to appear and provide the relevant documents to the committee or risk arrest by next week.
Source: Guardian.ng
