The Senate, yesterday, threatened the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning with a warrant of arrest, if the Director, Cash Departments failed to appear before it.
Annoyed by the frequent shunning of the Committee by the Ministry of Finance, the legislators gave the Permanent Secretary 48 hours to appear and provide the relevant documents or face warrant of arrest by next week.
The documents are related to the disbursement of Service Wide Votes and missing N113 million on salary adjustments for the Joint Admission Board Matriculation (JAMB).
The issue with the missing N113 million has been lingering since 2017, without any headway.
Speaking in Abuja, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Matthew Urhoghide, said the threat became imperative given the absence of the Director, who has ignored three invites.
Urhoghide said the Committee had written a letter of appearance to the Ministry on October 20th, and the letter was received the next day.
The Ministry is also to give details of release to all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including Police and Armed Forces.
According to him, another letter was written to the Ministry on December 8, on the issue concerning the missing N113 million for salary augmentation at JAMB.
Meanwhile, the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), told the Committee that the N113 million was released to JAMB in May 2017 for salary augmentation.
The representative of JAMB, Director of Finance and Administration, Mufutau Bello, told the Committee that the N113 million was not released to them.
He argued that if the money was released, it would have cut across all the MDAs using the Consolidated Salary Structure (CONLESS), and if there is a shortfall in May, it would also spread through the whole year.
…the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), told the Committee that the N113 million was released to JAMB in May 2017 for salary augmentation.
