…say ignorance no excuse
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has warned Ministries, Department, and Agencies of government to adhere strictly to the provisions of the nation’s laws bearing in mind that ignorance is not an excuse in law.
Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) gave the warning when the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council, Dr. Rabiu Olowo appeared before the committee to defend a query from the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation regarding the purchase of ICT equipment without the approval from the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency.
The NITDA Act requires all agencies of government to first obtain clearance and approval from the agency before purchasing any ICT equipment, but the 2020 Audit report said that the agency spent about N28.297 million for the purchase of the equipment without approval from NITDA.
The FRA boss admitted that the agency procured the items for ease of its operations, acknowledging the fact that it did not obtain the approval of NITDA as required by law, saying, “Going forward, we will make sure this does not repeat itself.”
A member of the Committee, Billy Osawaru (APC, Edo) expressed concern about the infraction, adding that the use of the words going forward by the Executive Secretary means that the House should ignore that infraction already committed.
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Osawaru said the NITDA act contained punishment for infractions, adding that the Committee should be looking at applying these infractions to serve as a deterrent to other agencies.
Supporting Osawaru’s position, Kabiru Ahmadu (PDP, Zamfara) said the action of FRA is a breach of the act establishing NITDA, especially section 17 of the act, saying the Committee should apply the sanction contained in section 18 of the act.
Also speaking Matthew Nwogu (LP, Imo) said since the head of the agency has admitted that the infraction was committed, the Committee should be looking at applying the consequences rather than subjecting it to debate, saying “ignorance is not an excuse in law. But if he is pleading for leniency, that is another issue”.
However, in his ruling, Salam said applying the full weight of the law on the agency would amount to killing the ant with a sledgehammer, adding that since there is evidence that the equipment was purchased, the agency should be warned to desist from such infractions.
The Committee also granted the request of the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment for a two extension of time to enable him to settle down in the Ministry and respond to the query.
The committee had given the Permanent Secretary 72 hours to appear before the committee to respond to about 32 audit queries, but the Permanent Secretary, Salihu Usman told the Committee that he needed time to settle down and get a proper brief since he just assumed office in the Ministry.