The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee on Monday queried the utilisation of N949m released by the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation to the Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for intervention in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chairman of the House Committee, Bamidele Salam, at the resumed investigative hearing on the matter at the National Assembly Complex, queried the CMD of the health institution, Prof Henry Ugboma, on the transparency in the utilisation of the funds.
The Committee Chairman had requested from the CMD all documents relating to all the releases of funds by the OAGF, the contracts awarded, as well as approvals from the Federal Executive Council and the Bureau of Public Procurement.
This is just as the lawmaker added that OAGF released to the hospital management more funds than what was appropriated to it by the National Assembly.
The lawmaker and some other committee members also questioned the CMD about the amount of funds released in 2020 and 2021, stressing that the Accountant-General didn’t provide them with the needed information on the issue during the investigation.
In a presentation to the panel, the CMD admitted that the the hospital management received the sum of N949m in five tranches.
The Committee Chairman after going through the documents on the released funds noted that the amount released to the hospital was bigger than what was appropriated in the annual budget.
