From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja.
House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee ( PAC) has given the Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRE), Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) 72 hours to appear before it respond to N20. 853 billion audit queries.
Also, summoned to appear before the Committee within 72 hours are the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Federal University of Petroleum Studies, Effurum, Delta State.
Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam, who announced the summons, said the affected agencies have refused to honour the invitations of the Committee to respond to respond to the audit queries.
According to the committee, REA is to defend alleged unapproved expenditure amounting to about N1.405 billion, NIGCOMSAT is to defend an unapproved expenditure of N1.048 billion while NEPC is to defend an expenditure of N264. 50 million.
Similarly, NUPRC is to defend an unexplained expenditure of N275. 626million and 35.738 million dollars, which it allegedly failed to transfer to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. Also, NEPZA and FUPRE are to defend expenditure of N15. 626 billion and N2. 235 billion respectively.
Members of the committee, which expressed indignation over the failure of the agencies to honour the invitations of the House, stating that their actions amounted to a disregard the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
According to Ademurin Kuye, the parliament was an important institution of government that must not be triffled with. Kuye stated that agencies established by acts of parliament must not be allowed to treat the legislature with levity.