The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has accused the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) of squandering about N10 billion on registering two companies for the Nigeria Postal Service, which went moribund barely a year after they took off.
The panel equally directed the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) and the Investment and Security Tribunal to remit about N3. 457 billion and N6.327 million respectively into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation within 30 days and tender evidence of payment before it.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun), who stated these at the resumed investigative hearing of the panel on Monday, said no reasonable Nigerian would believe that N10.4 billion was spent to register the two companies only for them to fold up within one year.
The two companies, NIPOST Transport and Logistics Limited and NIPOST Property reported taking off in May 2023 and folding up through a Presidential directive in May 2024.
The BPE Head of Finance and Accounts, who represented the Director General of the Agency, Imam Rilwan, told the committee that while about N10 billion was given to the two companies for their takeoff, about N400 million was given to the Bureau to prepare the ground for their takeoff.
He said the registration of the two companies for NIPOST was approved in 2017, paving the way for the BPE to spend about N423 million on registration and other activities for their eventual take-off.
According to the BPE official, when the money was eventually released in 2023, the Bureau had to recover it. The official added that the N423 million given to the Bureau was used to rent office accommodation and other essential services.
He said that while the agency paid rent for the two companies from 2022, the companies took possession of the offices in May 2023 and folded up in May 2024. He noted that all property belonging to the companies had been officially handed over to NIPOST’s management.
But Salam said spending money from government coffers before the release of funds was a clear violation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
He directed the BPE Director General, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, to personally appear before the committee on Wednesday, September 11, at noon with all relevant documents relating to the transaction.
Also, in his ruling on JAMB’s presentation, Salam said the Bureau’s refusal to reply to letters from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission informing it of its liabilities was an admission of its indebtedness to the government.
The head of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Bello Gulmare, informed the committee that the board was defaulting on its remittance, remitting only 25 per cent of its internally generated revenue instead of 50 per cent.
Gulmare said the commission wrote to JAMB in April, informing them of the examination body’s indebtedness, and sent a reminder in August. Still, the Board did not respond to any of the letters.
However, a Director of Finance and Accounts who represented JAMB said the Board was not receiving any capital and overhead funding from the government and was, therefore, required to remit 25 per cent of its IGR.
He said a government circular exempted them from remitting 50 per cent of their IGR to the government, a claim that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation disputed.
He said the Board has a letter from the Ministry of Finance granting a waiver from paying the 50 percent waiver.
While insisting that the FRC was trying to impose on them revenue they are not supposed to pay; he said they refused to respond to the letters from the commission because they have been doing the back and forth since 2017.
Ruling on the submission, the committee chairman and members frowned at JAMB’s refusal to respond to the letters, insisting that the government ran based on correspondence.
They said the board should pay the government coffers the amount standing against them within 30 days.
In another ruling, the committee asked the Investment and Security Tribunal to immediately recover and pay into government coffers taxes not deducted from five contractors and the accompanying fine, among other liabilities standing against it.