Reps query Niger Delta ministry over N62m transactions
The House of Representatives has berated officials of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs over alleged N62 million dubious financial transactions that are not documented or in the financial records of the ministry.
The ministry officials, led by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Didi Watson-Jack, appeared before the House Committee on Public Accounts yesterday.
They were asked to explain some payments made by the Commission to ‘’dubious’’ companies, and a N48 million for a training programme in Dubai in 2014, and N14m for the purchase of Smart and tablets phones without valid documents.
The ministry officials were invited by the committee based on an audit query raised by the Auditor General of the Federation for the 2014 financial year.
Speaking, chairman of the committee, Wole Oke informed that “there is no single receipt for the payments of air fares trip to and from Dubai, hotel accommodation, visas and what have you.
“We also discovered that the original company that made the submission for the Dubai trip was not the one the Ministry made the payment to.’’
The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) has approved the suspension of three officers and six other ranks of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) implicated in the alleged internet fraud, suspected to have been perpetrated by Hope Olusegun Aroke, an inmate serving a term of imprisonment in Kirikiri Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Lagos.
The suspended officials included two Deputy Controllers who had earlier been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
The spokesman of the service, Controller of Corrections Francis Enobore disclosed this ysterday in a statement he signed on behalf of the Controller General of the NCoS, Jaáfaru Ahmed.
“This is based on the preliminary report of the investigation panel earlier constituted by the Controller General of the Service, Jaáfaru Ahmed which indicted the officers in the scandal,” the statement added.