BPE wasted N10b registering two companies – Reps

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Monday accused the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) of wasting about N10 billion in registering two companies for the Nigeria Postal Service, only for the companies to fold up one year after take off.

The panel also directed the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) to render into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, about N3. 457billion within thirty days and tender evidence of payment before the committee.

Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun), who spoke at the resumed investigative hearing of the committee said no reasonable Nigerian would believe that N10.4billion was spent to register the two companies only for them to fold up barely one year later.

The two companies, NIPOST Transport and Logistics Limited and NIPOST Property, took off in May 2023 and folded up through a Presidential directive in May 2024.

BPE Head of Finance and Accounts who stood in for the Director General of the Agency, Imam Rilwan, told the committee that while about N10 billion was given to the two companies for their take off, 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 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

However, 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 11 at noon with all relevant documents relating to the transaction.

While ruling on the presentation by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, Salam said their refusal to reply to letters from. The fiscal responsibility commission informing them of their liabilities was an admittance of their indebtedness to the government.

Head of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Bello Aliyu Gulmare, had told the committee that the exam body was defaulting in its remittance, r emitting only 25 percent of its IGR instead of 50 percent

He said the Commission wrote to the Board in April informing them of their indebtedness and another letter in August, adding that the Board did not respond to any of the letters.

But the Director of Finance and Account of JAMB who represented the Registrar, said the Board was not receiving any capital or overhead funding from the government and was therefore required to remit 25 percent of their IGR.

He said there was a government circular that exempted them from remitting 50 percent of their IGR to the government, a claim that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation disputed.

He said the board has a letter from the Ministry of Finance granting them a waiver from paying the 50 percent waiver.

While insisting that the FRC was trying to impose on them revenue they were not supposed to pay, he said they refused to respond to the letters from the commission because they have been doing the back and forth since 2017.

Ruling on the submission, the committee chairman and members frowned at the refusal of JAMB to respond to the letters insisting that the government us run based on correspondence.

He said the board should pay into the government coffers, the amount standing against them within 30 days.

In another ruling, the committee asked the Investment and Security Tribunal to immediately recover and pay the government account taxes not deducted from five contractors and the accompanying fine among other liabilities standing against them.