The House of Representatives has urged the Bureau for Public Enterprise, BPE, to account for about N10 billion allegedly used to register two companies for the Nigeria Postal Service, NIPOST.
NAN reports that the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam, made the call in Abuja at the resumed investigative hearing of the committee.
“No reasonable Nigerian will believe that N10.4 billion was spent to register the two companies.
”These companies eventually folded up one year after takeoff,” he said.
He also said the companies, NIPOST Transport and Logistics Ltd., and NIPOST Property reportedly took off in May 2023 and folded up through a Presidential directive in May 2024.B
The BPE Head of Finance and Accounts who stood in for the Director-General of the Agency, Mr Imam Rilwan, told the committee that the said amount of N10 million was given to the two companies for their take-off.
He said that about N400 million was given to the BPE to prepare the ground for the takeoff 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 said when the money was eventually released in 2023 the bureau had to recover it, adding that the N423 million given to the BPE was used to rent office accommodation among other essential services.
He said that while the Bureau paid rent for the two companies in 2022, the companies took possession of the offices in May 2023 and they folded up in May 2024.
He said all property belonging to the two companies had been officially handed over to NIPOST management.
Responding, Salam said spending money from the government coffers before it was released violated the provisions of the Public Procurement Act
Give account of N10bn spent on firms registration – Reps cttee directs BPE