The House of Representatives on Friday queried the management of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) over the huge recurrent expenditure incurred in a fiscal year.
Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Wole Oke, accused NAFDAC of gross misconduct, for late submission of annual audited accounts.
The Committee also quizzed the agency on the N5.2 billion appropriated in 2019 and N11.2 billion internally generated revenue and the sum of N1.2 billion allegedly expended on payment of allowances to members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on yearly basis based on Grade Level 8.
NAFDAC Director General, Mojisola Adeyeye, affirmed that the Agency submitted its 2017 audited account in 2020 while the 2018 audited Account was submitted on February, 2021.
While responding to question on the COVID-19 intervention fund released to the agency, Adeyeye who was represented by the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Gbenga Ayowande disclosed that the sum of N2 billion released to the agency is still in the agency’s coffers.
The Committee requested for details of N5 billion balance and chided the Agency for discrepancies between the N1.1 billion recurrent expenditure declared and the N1.2 billion actual.
The Committee also quizzed the management team of National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Nsikak Ebong, over bogus amounts expended on printing in 2017, drugs and supply in 2018; N2.3 billion spent on research and development against the sum of N280 million spent in the previous year, as well as other consulting expenses worth N4.2 billion.
During the review of its financial statements as well as the audit queries, the lawmakers queried the sum of N48.9 billion incurred on procurement, as well as about N500 million spent on international travels and transport, among other issues.
To this end, Oke issued a seven-day ultimatum to NACA management to provide all relevant Appropriation Acts and Procurement records because you just have to retire the tax payers’ money.
The Committee also probed the financial statement of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASDRA) which was also accused of “gross misconduct” for failing to render its audited accounts to the oAuGF, in breach of the extant financial regulations.
