The office of the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has been indicted in
the disbursement of N10.4 billion judgement debt settlement to beneficiaries.
This is as his Ministry could not
succinctly render the account before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
The indictment followed
consideration of the 2017 and 2018 report of the Senate Public Accounts
Committee (SPAC) chaired by Senator Mathew Uhroghide.
Following the development, the
Committee has ordered the Ministry of Justice to stop further disbursement of
the Judgement debt.
It also ordered that the
Committee on settlement in the Justice Ministry be reconstituted within 30
days.
In another development, the
Senate also ordered University of Ilorin, University of Abuja, University of
Uyo, Federal University, Birim Kebbi, Federal University, Lafia, Federal
University, Wukari, Modibo Adams University of Technology, Yola and Federal
University of Petroleum, Effurun to refund N4.7 billion allegedly mismanaged.
The Auditor General’s reports for
2016 and 2017 indicted the seven universities, and was upheld by the Senate
Public Accounts Committee. It was also considered and approved by the Senate.
The breakdown showed that
University of Abuja mismanaged total of N1.3 billion in 2017, Federal
University of Petroleum mismanaged N1.1 billion, University of Ilorin
mismanaged N745 million, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), N467
million, Federal University, Wukari, N43 million, Federal University Dutsinma,
Katsina – N141 million, Federal University, Lafia – N32 million.
The indictment has been
considered and sustained by the Senate and will be forwarded to the Secretary
to Government of the Federation for further action.
On the Judgement debt, the
Auditor-General, Anthony Ayine’s report stated that the committee saddled with
the responsibility of managing the disbursement of judgement debt was dissolved
in 2013.
It said that as at the time when
the N10.4 billion was disbursed by the Ministry of Justice in 2017, the
Committee had yet to be reconstituted.
The report stated that lack of
control, as witnessed in the disbursement of the judgement debt, could lead to
loss of public funds.
Ayine, in the report, recommended
that the Solicitor-General of the Federation and permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Justice should immediately constitute the committee as required by
law.
The report reads in part,
“Examination of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Justice revealed that the
sum of N460.95m was appropriated for payment of judgment debts for 2016 and
N10bn appropriated for 2017, totalling N10.46bn.
“Further examination revealed
that the committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the fund was
dissolved after the 2013 financial year and is yet to be reconstituted after
the 2016 and 2017 appropriations.
“However, the ministry has been
disbursing this sum without a committee in place. Lack of control could lead to
loss of public funds.”
Judgement debt refers to money
that a court of law orders the losing party to pay to the winning party.
The parties in the case may either
be an individual, a family, a company, an institution or a government.
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