The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts, in a hearing on Wednesday has invited the Acting Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund, Mrs. Adesola Taiwo, over the agency budgets.
Why it matters?
According to the committee headed by Oluwole Oke, the agency has been spending an annual budget unapproved by the National Assembly. In a written submission to the audit committee, ITF claims to have spent N37,592,730,753 in 2018; N43,133,753,661 in 2019; N43,468,030,400 in 2020; and N43,947,801,437 in 2021. The committee noticed the financial irregularity while questioning the agency’s management on its budget.
At the investigative hearing, the agency’s Director of Finance and Administration, Yusuf Abdulmajid represented the Acting DG of ITF, as the Acting DG was on leave. This action displeased the lawmakers, who then instructed the DG to appear before the committee on Tuesday with evidence to exonerate the agency and the permission for leave.