House Of Reps Threaten AGF, CBN Governor

The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the non-remittance of money to the National Housing Fund and the utilization of funds from 2011 to date has slammed government officials for refusing to honour invites.

Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Musa Bagos, who disclosed this at Thursday’s sitting of the committee, warned that the chief executive officers who failed to honour its invitation risk being subpoenaed.

According to the committee, defaulting banks have until Thursday next week to appear before it with all the required information.

Bagos insisted that the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, and the acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Folashodun Shonubi, must appear in person before the panel.

He rebuked the CEOs for saying they have travelled out of the country whenever they were invited to appear before the parliament.

Bagos warned that the committee will not hesitate to invoke the provisions of the law against anyone who attempts to undermine its authority or sabotage the investigation.

He said, “We will not tolerate a situation whereby CEOs shy away from coming up to give evidence. Each time, all the CEOs claim they have travelled abroad.

“We insist on having the Accountant General of the Federation and the acting governor of the CBN appear before this Honourable committee unfailingly next Thursday at 11 am. We are not going to entertain their representatives.”

The committee rejected taking any evidence from the director, banking supervision, Haruna Mustapha, who represented the CBN governor; and the director of IPPIS, Emma Deko, who represented the AGF.

Bagos said, “Today, we invited all the banks, but only UBA, Zenith, Heritage, and Sterling Bank came. We’ll not take it lightly with the absentee banks any longer. They must appear next Thursday.”