The Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption has summoned the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Waheed Odusile, over alleged financial infractions detected during the audit exercise.
Also invited by the lawmakers over the issue were a former Permanent Secretary, Abiodun Awere, and the Director of Finance and Accounts who served in the Ministry between 2021 and 2022.
The alleged infractions, according to a statement on Monday, are connected with N92.9m released to the ministry from the governor’s contingency fund to supplement funds for the expenditures of the ministry.
Odusile, a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, has therefore been mandated to appear with other officials before the committee on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 1.00pm to provide further information on the finance of the ministry while he was in charge.
The chairman of the Committee, Damilare Bello, gave this directive while considering the ministry’s auditor reports for 2021 and 2022 and the financial records as presented by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Waheed Adesina, at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The statement partly read, “The committee also directed the Ministry’s Director of Finance and Accounts to furnish the committee with further details on the transfer of N2.51m to individual accounts as contained in the Year 2021 Auditor General Report.
“According to the committee, it was observed from the available records and bank statements of the agency that N2,515,590 was transferred to the personal accounts of Ojo Emmanuel, Special Adviser on Media, for the purchase of working tools for OGSG New Media Team.
“This was a breach of due process and it is against financial regulation No. 614. It is advised that funds should be transferred directly to the vendors’ bank accounts and not individual personal accounts for the purpose of accountability and transparency