House Committee summons Naval Chief over illegal withdrawal of public funds

Chinazor Megbolu

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The House Committee on Public Accounts has  summoned the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, to appear before it within seven days for alleged  withdrawal of funds belonging to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (House Committee summons  Naval Chief over illegal withdraw of public funds), without approval.

The committee issued the mandatory appearance to show its displeasure that the Naval Chief failed to honour their earlier invitation but instead sent the Nigerian Navy’s Assistant Director of Budget, whom the lawmakers considered to be too low ranked to address the Parliament.

The committee  however, mandated the Chief of Naval Staff to ensure he honours the invitation within seven days notice.

Recall the investigation  is over the alleged illegal withdrawal from the dividends accounts of the NLNG, which the Naval boss is being accused of.

The Naval Chief  is expected to respond to a query from the Auditor General of the Federation regarding certain activities within the Nigerian Navy when he finally appears before the House.

Recall, that recently, the House of Representatives had launched various investigations and probes, querying some sectors and agencies in Nigeria.

The other investigations by the House of Representatives include probes into the financial budgetary provisions, approvals and multilateral donations on skills acquisition and related programmes of the Federal Government and its agencies, including the home-grown school feeding programme as well as the power sector.