The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday began an investigation into the circumstances leading to alleged age falsification by eight public servants working at the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Chairman of the House Committee, Oluwole Oke who at the hearing threatened two years’ imprisonment for those officers whose service records were allegedly altered, said that the Committee would not shield any individual or agency of government.
He explained that the Committee’s mandate which was to expose corruption and inefficiency in the administration of public funds by serving public officials also included imprisonment of any such official who is found wanting in this regard.
The Chairman who had identified those affected in the alleged offence in the OAGF’s Office as Ugwu Ngozi, Chukwuemeka Eric, Anyanwu Augustine, Ogunyemi Segun, Oloyede Damilola, Onyema Lordson, Chikwe Valentine, and Olisame Godwin also said that the parliament has set up a Committee to investigate recruitment into the civil service.
Many of the affected persons who are mainly Directors and Deputy Directors have made appearances at the investigative hearing and have dismissed the allegation saying that at no time in their service was their service records altered in the office.
One of the affected persons, Valentine had told the Committee that he had not changed his date of birth or any other date in his service file at the Auditor-General and any other office.
Speaking under oath, he told the Committee that his date of birth is February 2, 1966 and his date of employment into the service is on June 3, 1991.
Nontheless, the Committee Chairman and other Members in a bid to probe further on it asked that the affected officers come with their credentials including primary school leaving certificate.
It also requested that all the affected staffers who were said to have travelled outside their duty post compulsorily appear before the Committee next Tuesday.
At the hearing, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine, who was billed to appear before the probe panel, wrote to it saying that he would be absent due to exigencies of office duties and pleaded for acceptance of representation by the Director of Human Resources in the office.
James Kwen, Abuja
