N3.3tr MDA Scam: Senate Vows To Probe Culprits

The Senate on Tuesday said it would investigate the audit report presented to the National Assembly by the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura.

Recall that the Auditor General had on Monday, alleged ‎misappropriation of over N3.3 trillion in the remittance of funds by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the 2014 fiscal year.

Ukura also accused the previous lawmakers of abandoning his annual audit reports submitted to the National Assembly since 1999, as necessary legislative actions have not being taken.

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However, the Senate Spokesman, Senator Abdulahi Sabi vowed that the Eight Senate Will not sweep the report under the carpet like similar ones in the past.

He told newsmen: “The 8th Senate has chosen to be different as we have stated severally since we came on board and for which we came up with our legislative agenda to make us different from the past. This is because we are in the season and period of change and we want to seriously key in to that.

“Along that line, you could see the courage that we have to make some differences from what was obtained in the past and on this note, we have passed reports of some committees such as the Treasury Single Account, TSA, which is a classical example.

“Through that exercise, we were able to save the country N7 billion. There are similar works that have been done. We want to say that since we have chosen to be different, we urge Nigerians to wait and see what we will make out of the investigation.

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“Without holding forth for the past assemblies, I want to say that it is not as if they have not been doing anything about the past audit reports, perhaps they have not taken their action up to the scale that would have made a huge impact that people want to see.

“If that is what the Auditor-General meant, I agree with him. The Auditor-General is raising a query, it is not an indictment. So, when he raises his queries, the essence of the Public Accounts Committee is to invite those parties involved in the query and through the instruments of their own work , investigate all the issues by seeking for clarification.

“At the end of the day, where they have infractions or infringement on certain procedures, they met out appropriate sanctions as stipulated by extant rules and regulations.”

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