Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Tuesday disclosed that the approval for the release of N5.8 billion from the Eurobond account without the consent of National Assembly was in contravention of extant financial regulations.
According to Ali Isa, deputy chairman, House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness who stated this at a press briefing held in Abuja, maintained that the Managing Director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Maihaja stands indicted and the House would not rescind its resolution that adopted the investigative report which informed the decision.
The House during the consideration of the report of the Committee had last Thursday called for the recovery of total sum of N33 billion emergency intervention fund allegedly embezzled by Mustapha Maihaja, Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The lawmaker explained that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo “may have questions to answer, as chairman of the governing board of the National Emergency Management Agency.”
Ali explained further that the Vice President as Acting President approved and directed the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to release the sum of N5.8 billion in June 2017.
He argued that “there was no procurement, there was no due process, no contract, yet the money was released and expended,” he stated. The House also denied any interference with its activities by Speaker Yakubu Dogara or any principal officer in the parliament.
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“There is nowhere in my report where I mentioned the Vice President or Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, but he may have questions to answer as the chairman of the governing board,” he explained.
The lawmaker further argued that the committee had documentary evidence to back up the violations explaining further that before arriving at their recommendations, various stakeholders were invited and given ample opportunity to tell their side of the story.
“We invited various state governments and the governors or representatives of the various Governors who told us that no bag of grain was delivered to their state. So, we gathered our facts from the presentations from various states and stakeholders”, he stated.
While denying any involvement by the Office of the speaker in the investigation, Ali said “no single leader of the House directed the committee to carry out any action. I personally threatened to pull out if certain things were not done.
“I will be surprised if the Speaker had any interest in what is happening in the North East. But Rep. Benjamin Wayo from Benue state who sponsored the motion did so because of the series of complaints from various quarters.
‘There was no day that neither the speaker nor any other honourable member interfered with our proceedings or compilation of our report or our recommendations,” he affirmed.
Isa further observed that the Committee recommended that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Police should be directed to recover about N800 million demurrage from some officers of the Ministries of Agriculture, Budget and National
Planning and NEMA.
“That based on the investigation conducted by the committee, it has been established that the federal government lost a total sum of over N33 billion as a result of mismanagement and outright embezzlement of funds occasioned by the actions or inactions of the managing director of NEMA, Engr. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaji,” he said.
The committee also charged the ICPC and EFCC to recover N150m, being subsidized cost of 5,000 metric tons of rice from the present DG, Engr. Maihaji “who claimed to have donated same to World Food programme (WFP) when they were ready to pay for it or import same”
“That in view of the fact that there is evidence that the balance of 5,000 metric tons claimed to have been supplied by Olam Nig. Ltd and 3 Brothers Nig. Ltd at the cost of about N1.5 billion to NEMA was not received by the states of the north east, the money should therefore be recovered from the director general, NEMA”
He said on the issue of donation of 6,779 metric tons of rice by Chinese Government for IDPs in the north east, the committee recommended that “NEMA and the federal ministry of agriculture, ministry of budget and national planning should account for it saying the rice was never received by the six states in the region.
“The committee equally asked the anti-graft agencies to further investigate the receipt and utilization of N1.6 billion for flood victims in 16 states and recover the sum of N700 million from the DG of NEMA, Engr. Maihaji.
“We also recommended that all government officials involved in the approval, processing, release and diversion of the sum of N5.8 billion for the emergency intervention of food security in the north east, which contravened the provisions of section 80 (2) and 80 (4) of the constitution, infraction of due process for procurement and loss of government revenue, flouting of the terms of the Eurobond loan are hereby indicted and the relevant security agencies should take steps to recover the all the money,” Isa said.
