Reps berate NOTAP over purchase of N46bn vehicles, N23m stationery

In continuation of its three-day hearing on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the House of Representatives Committee on Finance has frowned at the state of finances of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), as the lawmakers picked holes with the way the agency handles its finances.

The 2023 budget is projected at N11.30 trillion.

Hearing the presentation by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), the Reps committee demanded more explanations on some expenditure heads in its 2021 budget, as the lawmakers faulted the agency’s procurement of vehicles at the cost of N46 billion.

Another is the sum of over N23 million NOTAP spent on ‘office stationery’ in 2021for about N23 million.

The figures came to light at the ongoing interactive sessions with government agencies on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) by the committee.

Deputy Chairman of the committee, Rep. Sa’idu Abdullahi, who presided over proceedings at the National Assembly in Abuja, also said the committee would carry out a status enquiry on the financial operations of the agency.

NOTAP was given next week to reappear before the committee to make the explanations.

House Committee had, earlier in the sitting blamed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for discrepancies in the 2021 remittances by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.

The House Committee on Finance which disclosed this during the resumed hearing on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework at the National Assembly, said the position is borne out of the observed difference in figures between the representative of the AGF and the Energy Commission of Nigeria, among others, presented before the lawmakers.

Deputy Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi, who chaired the event, blamed both agencies for encouraging gross misappropriation in MDAs.

The Finance Committee, while discharging the agencies present, directed them to reconcile all remittances with the Accountant General’s office, and reappear before the committee with documents relating to every transaction in 2021.

It would also be recalled that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Development, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had while presenting the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), to the Reps Committee projected budget deficit for 2023 is N11.30 trillion.

She added that inflation is expected to grow at an average rate of 17.16% in the year under review.

Chairman of the House committee on Finance, Mr James Faleke, stated that no agency would be allowed to play with the revenue of the country.

Faleke expressed disappointment with the office of the accountant general of the federation for failing to provide details of remittances by revenue generating agencies during the public hearing.

He also directed the (FRCN and the fiscal responsibility commission to reconcile their accounts and report back to the house next week.

MDAs that appeared before the committee included the FRCN, Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), among others.