…drill BPE over mismanagement of N400m
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee on Monday accused the management of the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) of wasting about N10 billion on the registration of two companies for the Nigeria Postal Service, only for the companies to fold up one year after take-off.
The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam gave the ruling during the investigative hearing into the audit queries issued against the Bureau by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAuGF).
In his address, Rep. Salam observed that there was no way a reasonable Nigerian would believe that N10.4 billion was spent to register the two companies only for them to fold up barely one year later.
According to the issue raised, the two companies, namely: NIPOST Transport and Logistics Limited and NIPOST Property, reportedly took off in May 2023 and folded up through a Presidential directive in May 2024.
In his response, BPE’s Head of Finance and Accounts, who stood in for the Director General of the Agency, Imam Rilwan, explained that while about N10 billion was given to the two companies as a take-off fund, about N400 million was given to the BPE to prepare the ground for the take-off of the companies.
He said the issue of registering the two companies for NIPOST was approved in 2017, paving the way for the BPE to expend about N423 million in registering and carrying out other activities for the eventual takeoff of the companies.
He added that the money was spent on Refreshments, Enterprise visits, and related expenses, Consulting advice services, Advertisement, and publicity, Study tours (Zonal workshops), Honorarium sitting allowances, and others.
He said when the money was eventually released in 2023, the Bureau had to recover its money, adding that the N423 million given to the BPE was used to rent office accommodation and carry out other essential services.
He said while the Bureau paid rent for the two companies from 2022, the companies took possession of the offices in May 2023, while they folded up in May 2024.
He said all property belonging to the two companies has been officially handed over to NIPOST management
Unsatisfied with his presentation, Hon. Salam said spending money from. Government coffers before the money is released is a clear violation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, adding that such an action was not laughable.
Aside from trying to justify the expenditure, the representatives of the Bureau could not explain why they would spend money meant for other activities for the two companies, demanding relevant approvals from the Bureau.
While expressing displeasure about the development, Salam directed the Director General of BPE, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, to personally appear before the committee on Wednesday, September 1,1, at12.00 p.m. with all relevant documents relating to the transaction.
