. Orders seven universities to refund of N4.7bn
The Senate has indicted the Federal Ministry of Justice for failure to show details of how N10.4 billion judgment debt was disbursed to the beneficiaries.
Judgment debt refers to money that a court of law orders the losing party to pay to the winning party.
The indictment of the Ministry followed the consideration of the 2017 and 2018 reports of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, (SPAC) chaired by Senator Mathew Uhroghide.
This is even as the upper legislative chamber also ordered seven federal universities to refund N4.7 billion allegedly mismanaged by the schools.
The Senate therefore, ordered the ministry to stop further disbursement of the judgment debt and directed that the committee responsible for the disbursement be reconstituted and to forward all evidence to the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF), and SPAC within 30 days.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, the committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the disbursement of the judgment debt was dissolved in 2013.
As such, as of the time the N10.4 billion was disbursed by the Ministry of Justice in 2017, the committee was yet to be reconstituted.
The report added that lack of control, as witnessed in the disbursement of the judgment debt, could lead to loss of public funds.
It also recommended that the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, should immediately constitute the committee as required by law.
The committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the disbursement of the judgment debt was dissolved in 2013… as of the time the N10.4billion was disbursed by the Ministry of Justice in 2017, the committee was yet to be reconstituted.
The report reads in part: “Examination of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Justice revealed that the sum of N460.95 million was appropriated for payment of judgment debts for 2016 and N10 billion appropriated for 2017, totalling N10.46 billion.
“Further examination revealed that the committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the fund was dissolved after the 2013 financial year and is yet to be reconstituted after the 2016 and 2017 appropriations.
“However, the ministry has been disbursing this sum without a committee in place. Lack of control could lead to loss of public funds.”
Mismanaged N4.7 billion
In another development, the Senate, after consideration and adoption of Auditor-General reports on the schools’ management for the years 2016 and 2017 by the SPAC, ordered seven federal universities to refund N4.7 billion allegedly mismanaged by the schools.
The institutions include the University of Ilorin; University of Abuja; Federal University, Lafia; Federal University, Wukari; Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina; Federal University of Technology Akure; and the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun.
The breakdown showed that University of Abuja mismanaged total of N1.3 billion in 2017, Federal University of Petroleum (N1.1 billion), University of Ilorin (N745 million), Federal University of Technology Akure (N467 million), Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina (N141 million), Federal University, Wukari (N43 million), and Federal University, Lafia (N32 million).
The indictment was considered and sustained by the Senate and will be forwarded to the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) for further action.
