The House of Representatives and the Ministry of Finance yesterday
disagreed over the procedure for paying N2.8 billion to the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2017.
The Ministry appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of the
House in the ongoing investigative hearing on audit queries by
Auditor-General of Federation on Ministries Departments and Agencies
(MDAs).
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Aliyu Ahmed, said the payment
was made by the Minister following a memo by OPEC requesting the
amount.
Ahmed said the cash was released from the office of the
Accountant-General as payment of Nigeria’s contribution to the OPEC
fund for International Development in 2017.
Members of the Committee disagreed that the minister could release
such cash without recourse to the President.
Ahmed said payment to international organisations were not guided by
the Procurement Act.
He said it was a routine payment and there were hundreds of
international organisations, so if they had to resort to the President
for every approval, it would be unmanageable and cost more, adding
that this had been the practice.
The members opposed this, saying because it had been done over time
did not make it right and that such payments must be approved by the
President.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon Wole Oke, said approval from the
Presidency for such sum would be apt.
“Probably an approval from Mr President from FEC for these large sums
of money would have been apt. Your submissions are apt. We know where
the money is coming from and where it went to. What we are saying and
for the Auditor-General to have raised it, there must have been an
issue,” he said.
He ruled that in the future, the Ministry should obtain a memo and
presidential nod before taking such amounts.
