Reps summon auditor-general over $36.1m World Bank loan

The House of Representatives has summoned the acting Auditor General of the Federation, Mr Aghughu Adolphus, over a $36.1m facility under the Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project of the World Bank, to the office.

The House Committee on Public Accounts issued the summons at its public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.

Adolphus, who had earlier been invited by the committee, had failed to show up on Tuesday. His representatives led by a Deputy Director, Mr Babalola Olanrewaju, could not explain to the lawmakers the rationale behind taking the loan.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Wole Oke, said, “We want to know what the loan was meant for before going to sign for it. What was your procurement plan before arriving at that figure? Or is it a reward? We need to know the programme plan, how you want to utilise the loan.

“The Acting Auditor-General of the Federation, we are aware of his journey but there is no need to hurry about it. Let him appear before the committee next week Tuesday.

“Let him come and brief us properly. It is a loan that will be paid back and in the next 10 years now,  you will leave the service of the Federation; your children and our children will be the ones that will be repaying the loans to our creditors. That is why the man himself must come and explain to the parliament personally.

“We knew the efforts we made about getting to the root of the loan. We knew how many battles we fought about it. The Office of the Auditor General of the Federation is starved with funds, the place is understaffed, yet that huge amount is hanging somewhere. This not acceptable. The Office of the Auditor General of the Federation is saddled with the responsibility of auditing all the Ministries Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government for accountability and to boost anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Oke then directed the clerk to the committee to write the acting auditor-general.

PUNCH