Reps to summon ex-minister of finance

An ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives, chaired by Hon. Evelyn Oboro will summon the former minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over the reversal of a N1.17bn grant.

Punch Newspapers reports that she is to explain why she reversed the grant approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to the committee “The conduct of post mortem after payments does not seem to promote transparency and accountability.

“We are interested in who applied for the withdrawal since payment was initiated through an application by the SRRBDA.

“More importantly, there is a need to know how a ministerial directive can override a presidential approval.”

The committee also said “We also want to know where the money was returned to after it was withdrawn from the account of the authority. We are interested in how to make agencies of government responsive to the people.

Read: Agency will invite Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala soon, report says

“This is an organisation that can bring a whole lot to the agricultural sector in that region and the country as a whole, yet through whatever we have yet to understand, it was being deliberately starved of funds. We are determined to get to the bottom of the matter.”

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala served twice as a minister of finance in Nigeria.