Friday, April 20, 2012

Subsidy scam: PPPRA paid the N127.8bn —AGF alleges



Chairman of the House Ad-Hoc Committee on Subsidy Regime, Mr. Farouk Lawan
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, said on Friday that the payment of N127.8bn to ‘unknown entities’ in 2009 by his predecessor has a link with the Petroleum Product Price Regulatory Agency.
Otunla said the account that contained the said N127.8bn was owned and operated by the PPPRA, from which the marketers were paid.
The AGF said this in response to the House of Representatives’ report on the payment of N999m instalments for 128 times, which amounted to N127.8bn.
The House revelation had triggered national outrage with a call for the prosecution and jailing of the culprits.
Otunla stated this through the Assistant Director in charge of Public Relations in his office, Mr. Hassan Dodo, in a telephone interview in Abuja.
The House committee led by Mr. Farouk Lawan had in its report, said a “particular accountant-general that served during the period in 2009 made payments of equal instalments of N999m for a record of 128 times within 24hours on the 12th and 13th of January, 2009, totalling N127.872bn.”
The AGF, therefore, urged the committee to demand from the Central Bank of Nigeria details of the organisation that issued the payment instruments.
Dodo said, “On the allegation that the OAGF paid N127.8bn within 24hours to unknown beneficiaries by paying of N999m in 128 times within a day to ‘unknown entities,’ the OAGF is neither the owner nor the operator of the account where the oil marketers were paid.
“The account is owned and operated by the PPPRA. This office, therefore, suggests that the House could demand from the CBN the details and the organisation that issued the payment instruments. This will confirm that they were issued by the PPPRA and not the OAGF.”
He said the traditional role of the OAGF was to release funds to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government on the approval of the minister of finance.
In the case of oil subsidy payment, Dodo said the PPPRA computed subsidy payable to oil marketers on batch basis, and then forwarded same to the minister of finance for approval.
Upon approval, he said the computed figure was forwarded to the OAGF to transfer the approved amount to the account of the PPPRA maintained at the CBN.
However, a source in PPPRA, who preferred anonymity, said on Friday that the agency was studying the report.
“We’ve seen the report by the House; we’re studying it and we will make an appropriate response in due time,” the source said.

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