The House of Representatives has mandated its Committees on Anti-Corruption and Public Service to investigate alleged corruption in the nominal rolls of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and project racketeering.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Dachung Bagos (PDP-Plateau) at plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion, Bagos said that there were allegations of wide spread corruption in the MDAs in the country.
He said that President Mohammadu Buhari on Nov. 30, ordered the ICPC to take actions against heads of MDAs and other personnel involved in project racketeering, budget and payroll padding as well as ghost workers.
Bagos said the ICPC Chairman also stated that the review of the 2021 budget led to the discovery of 257 duplicated projects with a combined value of N20.138 billion.
“Concerned that the corrupt practices are carried out in all facet of the activities of the MDAs, with the highest list being the issue of payroll padding and ghost workers’ retention, these funds find their way into the pockets of the Chief Executives, Officers/ Heads of the MDAs at the expense of the nation.
“Also concerned that these corrupt practices have diverted the country’s revenue meant to be channeled into economic development and capital projects,’’ he said.
Given the ban on employment in the MDAs, the house mandated the committees to ascertain the status of employment and determine number of MDAs that were given waiver to employ.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the committees 10 weeks to carry out the investigation and to report to the house for further legislative actions.
