OLUWATONIPAUL.WAP.SH

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday queried several expenditure incurred by the Central Bank of Nigeria totalling N4.7bn, especially the renovation of its Port Harcourt branch with a whooping N2.8bn. How much does it cost to erect a new building that CBN spent N2.8billion to renovate? The committee, which is considering audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, said the bank had yet to offer convincing explanations on how the “huge expenditure was incurred.” At a session with officials of the bank in Abuja, the Chairman of the committee, Hon. Solomon Olamilekan, cited the N2.8bn the bank claimed to have spent on the renovationof its Port Harcourt branch as one example of the EXTRAVAGANT expenditures. Hon. Olamilekan said theexpenditures were incurred without documents to support them and “giving indication that due process was not followed.” The committee has therefore giving the bank a 48-hour ultimatum to produce documents to defend the spending. Another N23m was reportedly spent on therenovation of the residence of the governor of the bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, while a separate N50m was quoted for the same purpose. Total N73million. The committee said if the CBN fail to produce evidences, it would recommend the refund of the money spent into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.