COVID-19 Funds: Reps Again Order Rural Electrification Agency To Refund Hidden N133m To FG

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has again ordered the Rural Electrification Agency to refund N133.476 million Covid19 funds hidden in the ministry’s account to the federal government.

THE WHISTLER recalls that House of Reps Public Accounts committee had ordered the Ministry of Health and Trade and Investment to refund N85 billion COVID-19 intervention funds allocated to the ministries

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) mandated to recover unutilised COVID-19 Funds again uncovered the sum of N133.476 million domiciled in the accounts of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

It said the funds represent the balance from the sum of N12.424 billion appropriated for the agency by the National Assembly.

Chairman of the committee Hon Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) also queried the Agency for breaching the procurement act for awarding contracts through a selection of the contractors in their database and further accused it of going against the approval of the Bureau of Public (BPP) Procurement.

They queried the discrepancies in the total number of projects approved by the BPP which approved a total number of 193 projects.

However, the REA was to later award 191 projects leaving out two (2) hence, a balance of N133.476 million which the Committee wants answers and explanations for.

These concerns were raised on day three of the probe “on alleged utilisation and mismanagement of COVID-19 funds by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government between the year 2020 to 2022.”

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) was earlier invited to give a detailed explanation of the sum of N12.424 billion COVID-19 funds it disbursed between 2020 and 2021.

Also, the Committee wants to ascertain the whereabouts of N133.476 million allegedly inflated in the contract sum.

The Managing Director (MD), REA, Ahmad Salihijo in his reaction said, “What happened is during the procurement we could not award everything. So that is the reason for that differential.

“Although the money is still lying fallow in our account it has not been used”, he explained.

In a swift reaction, Rep. Salam argued that, “It is against the rules that you are still keeping the sum of N133.476 million federal government money with you.”

Meanwhile, REA admitted earlier that contracts were awarded through selective tendering due to the emergencies involved and not the normal process of bidding.