The Ogun State House of Assembly has asked the Office of the Accountant General to furnish it with details of the N22billion special projects and assignments carried out by the State Ministry of Special Duties from 2015 to 2019.
The Ogun House Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption led by Musefiu Lamidi, issued the directive while questioning some past and retired management staff of the ministry including some Permanent Secretaries and Directors, who served in the Ministry between 2013 and 2020.
Lamidi, on Thursday, called on the Accountant General to furnish the committee with documents like release warrant, payment vouchers, authorization invoice and receipts on the construction and provision of electricity which he said gulped N513,745,670.41 and was unknown to the officials in the ministry.
The committee sought the need for an improved working relationships between the offices of the Accountant General and the Auditor General to ensure seamless reconciliation of all accounts of MDAs on a monthly basis to aid accountability and transparency.
Earlier in his response, the former, Director, Finance and Account, Mr. Agbolade Osiboyejo told the lawmakers that his office was only issued a transcript on the affected transactions to the tune of N7bn with no release warrant to give detailed explanations on the projects, adding that the fund was expended and paid on behalf of the Ministry from the office of the Accountant General.
He added that the Ministry only received figures of expenditures at the end of every financial year with no supporting details from Office of the Accountant General which made it difficult to keep an up-to-date Department Vote Expenditure Account (DVEA).
Also speaking, the former Director of Administration and Supplies, Mr. Kola Ogunlana disclosed that acute shortage of record keepers brought about the maximization of officers on other cadres (clerical and executive cadres) with no requisite knowledge to manage the Ministry’s store.
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