The House of Representatives Committee on Finance said on Thursday that it was set to take up the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at a public hearing on the state of the Nigerian economy.
A statement by the Clerk to the committee, Mr. Farouk Dawaki, explained that the hearing would be held between March 3 and March 6.
It added that the minister would be required to address the 50 questions on the state of the economy, which the committee handed to her in December 2013.
One of the questions was on how much revenue the country lost to import waivers between 2011 and 2013.
The committee said it decided to suspend the ongoing hearing on independent revenues in order to kick-start the hearing on the state of the economy next week.
Also, the House Committee on Public Accounts on Thursday queried a directive by the Bureau of Public Procurement asking the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation to procure vehicles worth N180m from Innoson Motors.
Innoson, a local vehicle assembly plant, is based in Nnewi, Anambra State.
The AGF, Mr. Samuel Okura, who appeared before the committee to defend his office’s 2014 budget, told lawmakers that the N180m was appropriated in 2013 for operational vehicles.
Okura informed the committee that the BPP, acting on the resolution of the Federal Executive Council, had issued a Letter of First Refusal to Innoson Motors.
Okura stated that the office initially wanted to procure 20 vehicles in batches but had to defer to the directive of the BPP.
He added that N49m was paid to acquire the first batch of four Toyota Hilux pick-up vans and one Toyota Prado.
“We were now directed to go for Innoson Motors,” he told the committee.
However, he revealed that Innoson Motors failed to meet up with the supply.
As a result of the inability of Innoson to supply the vehicles, Okura told the committee that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation had to mop up N100m out of the budget for vehicles.
But the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, cited some “inconsistencies” in his presentation.
He noted that available records showed that the accountant general’s office mopped up N150m and not N100m.
As a result, Olamilekan summoned the BPP to appear before the committee on Tuesday to explain why it directed the AGF to award the vehicle contract to Innoson Motors.
The committee also faulted Okura’s claim that the performance of the capital budget of his office last year was 57.7 per cent
The committee said the performance was 45 per cent.
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