By Joseph Amah, Abuja

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the Acting Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, Mrs Adesola Taiwo, over the operation of the agency’s budgets between 2018 and 2021 without the approval of the National Assembly.

At its investigative hearing on Wednesday, the committee vowed to probe into how the ITF operated over the years without a budget appropriated by the National Assembly, contrary to Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution.

The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, ordered an immediate probe, directing the panel’s clerk to write and request evidence of how the ITF conveyed its annual budgets for the years under review, from the Clerk to the National Assembly and the Clerk to the House of Representatives.

The ITF, in its written submission to the committee, said it spent N37,592,730,753 in 2018; N43,133,753,661 in 2019; N43,468,030,400 in 2020; and N43,947,801,437 in 2021.

The committee discovered the extra-budgetary spending while grilling the management of the ITF, which was placed on status inquiry by the committee.

The lawmakers also expressed their displeasure with the non-appearance of the acting DG, who was represented by Director of Finance and Administration, Yusuf Abdulmajid.

Oke had asked the leader of the ITF team of the whereabouts of Taiwo, who was supposed to appear before the committee to speak on various infractions levelled against Fund.

The DFA replied that she was on annual leave, which prompted him to represent her.

The committee, however, insisted that the acting DG must appear in person unfailingly on Tuesday along with a copy of letter showing approval of the leave.

Oke also ruled that the ITF should show evidence that the budget of the Fund was actually conveyed to the National Assembly by the President and was thereafter considered and approved.

Furthermore, the chairman ordered ITF to also present the reports of its budget performance from January 2020 to date, records of donations, grants, and other interventions, a detailed breakdown of the amount disbursed, and a comprehensive list of beneficiaries.

The Acting DG is also to come along with the Director of Human Resources, Director of Finance, and Director of Procurement.

US Appeal Court Permits Nigeria to Request Documents from P&ID Stakeholders

By Joseph Amah, Abuja

A US court of appeals for the second circuit has overturned orders which blocked Nigeria from obtaining documents to support its appeal against a $10 billion judgement awarded against it in a case against Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).

In 2019, a British court gave P&ID the go-ahead to seize Nigerian assets worth $9 billion over a 2010 contract.

The company claimed it agreed with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State, but that the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not fulfill its end of the bargain.

The award, which has been accruing interest since 2013, is now worth $10 billion.

Nigeria had alleged that the gas deal was a scam designed to defraud the country.

Lawyers representing the federal government told the court that P&ID officials paid bribes to get the contract.

But P&ID denied the allegation and accused the Nigerian government of “false allegations and wild conspiracy theories”.

In a move to overturn the judgement, Nigeria got court clearance to request documents from P&ID stakeholders. The stakeholders include VR Capital, four subsidiaries and three of its directors — and review bank statements of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Diezani Alison-Madueke and Rilwanu Lukman, former ministers of petroleum.

However, the New York district court vacated its order in November 2020, on the grounds that Nigeria had not “provided a good reason” for bypassing the procedures set out in a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) between the US and Nigeria.