Reps summon AGF Madein, issue arrest threats
The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the non-remittance to the National Housing Fund (NHF) and misappropriation of funds has again summoned Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
The committee has demanded her appearance on September 7 or face arrest.
On Thursday, the committee had called upon the Director of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to address the issue of non-remittance to the NHF.
However, after receiving alarming information from the IPPIS director, the committee insisted that the AGF herself must appear before them. Despite a letter brought by the IPPIS director explaining the AGF’s absence, the committee was not satisfied and decided to re-invite Madein.
They expressed their disappointment with the IPPIS director’s inability to answer most of their questions and demanded that he come with the AGF on September 7 to provide further explanations.
Rep Dachung Bagos, the Chairman of the committee, said, “We cannot take the same man that could not give us the information we need from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“The Speaker requested for fair hearing from us and we wouldn’t want to be seen as witch hunting anyone. We would give the fair hearing for the AGF to appear another day.”
IPPIS claimed it was having difficulty remitting to NHF.
The committee also requested that Remital, a private organisation that remits funds, appear on Sept. 7 because IPPIS was not prepared to answer committee questions.
While commending Remital for appearing before it with the necessary documents, the committee’s chairman blamed IPPIS for not being prepared with the necessary documents to question the organisation.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, and Heritage Bank are also present at the investigation hearing.
Bagos stated that the NHF Act, which established the NHF, required knowledge of banking sector investments.
In his presentation, Mr. Eke Ogba, the General Manager of UBA, said it had remitted about N2.5 billion from January 2011 to July 2023 to NHF.
“This is a huge sum. We have given the summary monthly. We have also given the summary of what is deducted monthly on each worker.
“I do not have the knowledge of investment; we only deduct and remit. I will get the details of the investment; all we have is how much has been deducted from each staff member,” he said.
