By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives has issued a five-day ultimatum to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works, Yakubu Kofarmata to appeat before its Public Accounts Committee.
This ultimatum for his appearance is to clarify the alleged abandonment of a federal road construction project in Kaduna State, valued at over N1.46bn.
The Chairman of PAC, Rep. Bamidele Salam stated this following the failure of the Permanent Secretary to respond to two prior invitations.
The committee reached this resolution while addressing concerns on the non-compliance with financial regulations and Procurement Act, as well as assessing the value for money regarding the project in question.
Naijablitznews.com reports that the road construction contract, which spans 115 kilometres was awarded to Jam-Jam Dynamic Platform Ltd on October 5, 2022, with a completion period of 12 months.
The committee expressed displeasure at the attitude of the Permanent Secretary whom it said has the habit of treating the invitation of the committee with levity, vowing that such behaviour would no longer be accepted from him.
Naijablitznews.com reports that the Permanent Secretary refused to appear or respond to invitations sent to him on August 5 and October 11, 2024, respectively.
Rep. Salam, stressed that the committee required an explanation for the full payment made to Jam-Jam Dynamic Platform Ltd despite no evidence of project execution.
Consequently, a motion to make him appear within five days was moved and unanimously adopted by the members of the committee.
“The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has issued a five-day ultimatum to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works to show cause why a warrant of arrest should not be issued against him by the House of Representatives for failure to respond either in writing or to appear before this constitutional committee to explain why the sum of N1.46bn was paid to Jam-Jam Dynamic platform Ltd for the construction of Gidanwanya-Guaran, Dutse-Waman, Ravi-Saminaka-Kano Road awarded on October 5, 2022 to be completed within 12 months received full payment without execution of the project”, the Chairman said.
Kofarmata has until the specified date to provide a response and appear before the committee to address the allegations, and failure to appear or respond by Tuesday, October 29, 2024, the committee will seek a warrant for his arrest.