The immediate past Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Waheed Odusile, the former Permanent Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Awere; and the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Andrew Odukoya, who worked in the ministry from 2021 to 2022, have all been summoned before the Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption over suspected financial violations found during the audit exercise.
A statement on Monday claimed that the alleged violations had to do with N92.9 million that the ministry had received as a supplement to money issued for ministry expenses from the governor’s contingency fund.
The committee ordered that Odusile and other officials appear before the committee on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 1 pm, in order to offer additional information regarding the ministry’s finances.
Damilare Bello, the chairman of the committee, issued the summonses after reviewing the ministry’s 2021 and 2022 auditor reports as well as the financial documents that Permanent Secretary Alhaji Waheed Adesina had brought to the Assembly Complex in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
“The committee also instructed Odukoya, the ministry’s director of finance and accounting, to provide the committee with additional information regarding the N2.51 million transfer to individual accounts that was reported in the 2021 Auditor General Report.
The committee claims that N2,515,590.00 was moved to the personal accounts of Mr. Ojo Emmanuel, Special Adviser on Media, in order to buy working gear for the OGSG New Media Team. This observation was made based on the agency’s bank statements and available data.
“This was against Finance Regulation No. 614 and a violation of due process. For the sake of accountability and transparency, it is recommended that money be sent straight to the vendor’s bank accounts rather than to specific individual accounts,” he stated.
Along with asking the submission of the financial inflows and outflows, the committee also instructed the Director of Finance and Accounts to provide it with the most recent fixed asset registry for the ministry.
In response, Permanent Secretary Adesina gave the committee assurances that measures had been taken to address concerns brought up in the audit report.
She also pledged that the ministry would abide by all guidelines in order to continuously advance accountability and openness.
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