The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has dismissed reports stating that Speaker Tajudeen Abbas accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of engaging in reckless borrowing and accumulating unsubstantiated debts.

The committee, in a statement on Tuesday, described the reports as inaccurate, misleading, and false, stating that the speaker’s remarks, delivered by House Majority Leader Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, contained no such allegation.

The statement, signed by PAC’s Media Consultant, Joshua Afolabi, expressed regret that robust discussions on debt sustainability in the West African sub-region had been “twisted for cheap political grandstanding.”

The statement said: “From the speech of the speaker which was recorded by several television, radio and online media, Dr. Abbas charged members of the public accounts committee from West African countries who were attending an International conference in Abuja to deepen their oversight of public debt expenditure to ensure that there is value for money and adherence to financial regulations in such expenditure.

“The speaker went further to announce a readiness of Nigeria to spearhead the creation of a West African parliamentary framework under the West African Association of Public Accounts Committee (WAAPAC) to harmonise debt reporting across the sub-region.

“It is therefore shocking to read some sections of the media inputting strange words and statistics into a speech that was publicly delivered at the opening of the ongoing annual conference and general assembly of the West African Association of Public Accounts Committee.”

The statement further quoted the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, Bamidele Salam, as urging the broadcast media who covered the event to make available the full video recording of the speaker’s speech to interested persons to clear all doubts as regards the content of the speech read by the house leader at the opening ceremony of the regional conference on behalf of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

“For the purpose of emphasis, there was no divergence whatsoever between the positions of the Honourable Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Wale Edun and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, who both spoke at the event on the sustainable index of Nigeria’s current debt and macro-economic stability which flows from various ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s fiscal space,” the statement said.