The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts yesterday ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to respond to queries on some “frivolous expenditures” totalling N4.7 billion.
Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Solomon Adeola, gave the order after he met with the officials of the CBN to resolve the issue contained in a financial report by the Auditor General of the Federation, which the CBN allegedly undertook.
According to Adeola, the “questionable transactions” included N2.8 billion reported to have been used for the renovation of the CBN’s Port Harcourt branch; N23 million paid out to a contractor for the renovation of the CBN Governor’s residence and another N50 million for the renovation of the same residence less than four years later; an awarded contract from an initial sum of N74 million to N79.6 million and the sum of N848 million said to have been used for the purchase of a property for the National Planning Commission.
Mr Suleiman Barau, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Service, CBN, led the central bank team to the meeting. He said the CBN was ready to produce the necessary documents in defense of the transaction. However, he apologised for the inability of the team to tender the required documents to support its actions.
Director of Procurement of the CBN, Mr. I. O Gbadamosi, expressed fears that the CBN might not be able to lay its hands on some of the documents that were requested because of the five years life span of record keeping system of the CBN.
The Public Accounts Committee however said it was not out to victimise anybody or institution and directed the CBN to prepare to defend its actions.
Similarly, the National Planning Commission was directed to appear before the committee next week over the purchase of the property.
“We have invited the CBN on several occasions to come and defend the queries but they refused. Today they came with documents that cannot stand the test of time. We are giving them the last chance after which the Committee will go ahead and rule over their case in accordance with the laws of the land,” Adeola said.
The Chairman gave the CBN 48 hours to respond to these queries it allegedly undertook without regard for due process.