… says ‘no money was stolen or is missing’
BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has denied a report that N4.6billion had been paid illegally into private accounts under his watch as Minister of Power, Works and Housing.
The minister, who also insisted that no money was stolen or missing under his watch between September and December 2019, linked the possible mix-up to the non-registration of some government officials that should be paid certain approved expenses on the Integrated Personnel Payment and Information System.
A report had been published by an online newspaper, stating that between September and December 2019, ₦4.6 billion was illegally paid into the private accounts of some directors and employees of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
The newspaper said although the Ministry of Power, in response to its FOI request, claimed that only N157 million was paid to 127 staff members within the period under review, records in its possession had proven that the ministry’s claim was untrue.
But in a statement he personally signed in reaction to the issue, obtained by our correspondent, Fashola explained that the Federal Government in 2007 initiated a payment platform called the Integrated Personnel Payment and Information System, noting that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had been engaging all sectors of government to fully migrate to the IPPIS platform.
“What has happened is that not all government officials who, from time to time, needed to be paid for approved expenses were registered on the platform,” he said.
“In order to ensure that government work was not hampered, the directors of finance and accounts sought and obtained approval of the accountant-general to pay these monies through the accounts of an approved few who were on the platform,” the minister clarified.
He further explained that “those so approved then collect the money and disburse to the beneficiaries who sign receipts all of which are retired and available for verification as approved by the accountant-general.”
The minister however added that the accountant-general had recently issued new guidelines to deal with this process since “not all public officials had fully enrolled on the IPPIS and the DFAs had the mandate to comply and not Fashola.”
According to him, it is wrong to think that a public officer would take such money on a consistent and repeated basis with impunity.
“In all, no money was stolen or is missing. There is no smoking gun to criminalise Fashola,” he stressed.
