Members of the Senate Committee on Public Account were shocked as the document from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation revealed how the Ministry of Justice spent N650 million on ‘critical need’ under the capital project.
The N650 million was drawn from the 2019 Service Wide Votes to the ministry.
The Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide at the investigative hearing on the spending of Service Wide Votes between 2017and 2021, was surprised that such provision was made in the budget of the ministry.
The expenditure for the N650 million for ‘critical need’ was revealed by the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIEs) from the Office of Accountant General of the Federation.
Surprisingly, in the record of the Ministry, there is nothing that revealed that N650 million was received, but the AIEs from the Office of Accountant General of the Federation revealed that N650 million was released for the ministry for ‘critical need’ for capital expenditure in 2019.
However, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, B.E Jeddy Agba assured the committee to ask the concerned departments in the Ministry to bring the letters of request and approval for the expenditure available to the committee.
