The Senate has given the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, a 24-hour deadline to account for the N700 million collected from Service Wide Votes (SWV) for monitoring the governorship elections in Ondo and Edo.
Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, gave the order to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore after the ministry explained that the N700 million would be accounted for by the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps (NSDC).
The Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) Committee explained in a document produced by the Office of the Federation’s Accountant General that the money was released in two batches, N400 million for the Ondo Governorship election and N300 million for the Edo Governorship election.
According to the document, N400 million was released to the Ministry of Interior for logistics and operational support for the Ondo state gubernatorial election.
According to the second release, N300 million has been released to the Ministry of Interior for logistics and operational support concerning the Edo state gubernatorial election.
However, the Permanent Secretary said, “it is the NSDC that will account for the money; we only make requests on behalf of the NSDC.”
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Urhoghide, who found the response unbecoming, stated that the excuse was not tenable because the “NSDC did not collect the money, it was the Ministry that collected the money.”
Urhoghide, who noted that the NSDC would only come before the Committee to account for the money requested personally from Service Wide Votes, said, ”NSDC has their queries, they are coming before the Panel to respond to the one that bears their names, they have the money given to them directly.
From our records, your ministry will defend the expenditures, not NSDC.”
The Chairman subsequently gave the Ministry 24 hours to defend the N700 million for the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
”You have 24 hours to make your report available to us; we must get an explanation from you,” he added.