Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, resolved to institute an inquest into alleged irregularities in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The committee also resolved to invite Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmad and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, over alleged irregularities in the payment system.
Chairman, House Committee, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Wole Oke, said during an investigative hearing on audit queries issued to tertiary institutions by Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
Some of the tertiary institutions that appeared before the Committee had raised concerns that alleged anomalies in the IPPIS was responsible for non payment of workers salaries.
“That is why we must look into IPPIS. We were told here that the salaries of personnel of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi (Benue State) went into accounts of staff of Jigawa State. IPPIS must be investigated to detect some of the irregularities observed in the system. We have observed some serious irregularities in the system,” Oke said.
Meanwhile, the House, yesterday, passed for second reading, a bill seeking to amend the Electric Power Sector Reforms.
Sponsor of the bill, Roland Igbakpa said the proposed legislation is intended to address the inability of electricity Distribution Companies (DisCOs) to respond speedily to complaints by consumers.
“This Bill seeks to amend the Electric Power Sector Reform Act to provide for the Electricity Distribution Company to reimburse any power consumer who incurs expenses in the acquisition and maintenance of electricity apparatus connected to the National grid.
“It is hope that this bill when passed into law will protect the unsuspecting electricity consumer from undue exploitation by some unscrupulous Disco, who with impunity, rip consumers of their resources by their deliberate abdication of their responsibilities while at the same time have free access to incentive or subsidy from government’s Power Consumer Assistance Fund.”