ENUGU State Assembly Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption has directed the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to recover the alleged missing N15 million belonging to the state.
The committee chairman, Mr Anthony Chigbo, gave the directive during the committee’s oversight visit to the ministry on Thursday in Enugu.
Chigbo said that the money, when recovered, would help the state to attend to numerous financial problems.
“It is the wish of this committee that you do your best to recover the money,” he told the commissioner, Mr Stan Chukwuani, noting however, that the commissioner was not
responsible for the disappearance of the money but some staff of the ministry.
The chairman said that the same directive had been given to the state Ministry of Education, Head of Service and Post-Primary School Management Board (PPSMB), where
alleged missing monies were also uncovered.“You are hereby given two weeks from today to report back to us on your findings,” the chairman re-stated.
He then urged the commissioner to ensure that the Value Added Tax (VAT) was deducted from all contractors handling projects in the state.
Responding, the commissioner assured the committee that the missing money would be recovered and that all those involved would be prosecuted.
Chukwuani also informed the committee that the ministry had been deducting VAT from all contractors including state-owned firms.
He thanked the committee for the visit, which, according to him ensures that checks and balances reigned supreme.
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