Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing has eventually opened up on the N4.6 billion allegedly missing in his ministry.
Fashola said; “What has happened is that not all government officials who, from time to time, needed to be paid for approved expenses were registered on the platform.”
“In order to ensure that government work was not hampered, the directors of finance and accounts sought and obtained approval of the accountant-general to pay these monies through the accounts of an approved few who were on the platform.”
“Those so approved then collect the money and disburse to the beneficiaries who sign receipts all of which are retired and available for verification as approved by the accountant-general.”
“The Accountant-General had recently issued new guidelines to deal with this process because not all public officials had fully enrolled on the IPPIS and the DFAs had the mandate to comply and not me.”
“It is wrong to think that a public officer will take such money on a consistent and repeated basis with impunity.”
For those who don’t know, an online newspaper had stated that Fashola’s ministry paid over N4.6bn into personal accounts of directors and staff in four months, stressing that this was in clear violation of extant law.
The newspaper claimed that between September and December 2019, the N4.6bn was illegally paid into the private accounts of some directors and employees of the then Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.