NAN-H-135
Release
By Cecilia John
Abuja, Feb. 22, 2017(NAN) The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, has assured that he would interface with the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun for the release of N500 million special fund to Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission(NCPC).
Idris made the promise when he appeared before the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday in Abuja.
He further assured that he would interface with the budget office and other relevant stakeholders.
“My office, the Budget Office and the Executive Secretary of the NCPC will go back and make this fact known to the Minister of Finance and map out a way forward and report back to you on Tuesday.
“I believe this attempt will bring out result. There is no reason why one commission is given and the other commission is not given.
“If you give us this opportunity, three of us will come back on Tuesday with a firm and positive result’’, he said.
Director General of the Budget Office, Mr Ben Akabueze, said the release of the fund was not within the purview of the office.
He said the office had no powers to issue an Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE), on a special account for an item that is not in the budget.
According to him, the powers lay with the Minister of Finance, who should seek approval from the President before the fund was released.
“The current situation is that the Minister for Finance requires the President’s approval to pay from the Special Account.
“When we got confirmation about what specific special account had the funding to be able to accommodate this payment, we wrote to the minister for finance.
“This is to obtain approval and direct the Accountant General of the Federation to pay from that account in line with the procedure’’, he said.
A member of the committee, Sen. James Manager (PDP-Delta) expressed concern that while same amount of money was released to the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, that of Christian Pilgrims Commission was denied.
“We are aware from this side that it must be the same special account that serviced the Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board.
“We are aware during our interactions with the Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board that they received the same N500 million.
“I don’t see why we should have a matter now with that same special account when it is to service the brother commission.
“We will like to get this thing a bit clearer and if we need to invite the Minister of Finance we will do that so that you will tell us what is really going on’’, he said.
He urged the parties involved to ensure that the fund was released in order not to whip up sentiments, in view of the sensitive nature of the bodies involved.
The Chairperson of the joint committee, Sen. Monsurat Sunmonu, said the committee would adjourn till the AGF and other stakeholders reported back on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee adjourned two previous meetings due to the non-conclusion of the matter. (NAN)
CJM/NNL/IEA ============ Edited by Idahosa Asowata