These are not the best of times for Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance as the House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement has summoned her over alleged payment of N17 billion for procurement of office equipment.
The House also summoned the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, and former Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla over the transaction. The three top government officials are to appear before the committee members on Tuesday 6th June, 2017.
Their invitation was sequel to their failure to appear at the public hearing on the allegation organised by the committee on Thursday 1st June, 2017. The minister sent the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Isa Dutse to represent her, but the lawmakers flayed it and refused to accept any excuse for her absence at the investigative hearing.
Before issuing the summons, chairman of the committee, Rep. Oluwole Oke, said that the three officials had violated the provisions of section 15 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 as it pertained to the role of procurement entities.
He told the permanent secretary that the minister must provide documents that included President Buhari’s approval for the contract, agreement signed by the contractors and record of payment of the contract by the ministry. He said that the summons became necessary because there was a document from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation showing that they had paid N17 billion on the contract.