The Senate has given the Ministry of Interior 24 hours to defend the N700 million collected from Service Wide Votes to monitor Ondo and Edo governorship elections.
The money was released in two batches N400 million for Ondo governorship election and N300 million for Edo governorship election.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore, had told the senate it’s Nigerian Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) that would account for the amount.
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But Sen. Mathew Urhoghide, the Chairman of Senate Public Accounts Committee, said the excuse was not tenable.
He said “the NSCDC did not collect the money”.
“NSCDC has its own queries, its officers are coming before the panel to respond to the one that bears the NSCDC’s names.
“They have money given to them directly,” Urhoghide said.
“From our records, it is your ministry that will defend the expenditures, not NSCDC,” he said.
The chairman, therefore, gave the ministry 24 hours to defend the expenditure.
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