Reps summon ex-NIPOST boss, Adegbuyi, over agency’s accounts

The House of Representatives has summoned the immediate past Postmaster-General of the Federation, Mr Bisi Adegbuyi, over a backlog of unaudited accounts by the Nigerian Postal Service, beginning from 2014.

The House Committee on Public Accounts issued the summons at an investigative hearing in Abuja on Wednesday.

A team of management staff of NIPOST, led by the current Postmaster-General of the Federation, Dr Ismail Adewusi, had appeared before the committee to respond to inquiries about unaudited accounts of the government agency.

Adewusi, who was grilled by the committee on the failure by NIPOST to render its audited accounts to the Auditor-General of the Federation for the period under review, told the lawmakers that he just resumed office and that frantic efforts were being made to get the audited accounts ready for submission.

The lawmakers however rejected Adewusi’s submission, insisting that the immediate past postmaster-general should be made to appear before it to account for his stewardship.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Oluwole Oke, said, “I think the former NIPOST (boss) must appear before this committee to account for his stewardship. He owes Nigerians a full explanation on how he expended their money. This is not a Banana Republic where anything goes.”

Consequently, the committee stepped down the matter, asking Adewusi to produce the immediate-past postmaster-general before it on a date to be communicated to him.

In a related development, the committee also condemned the inability of the management of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to submit its audited accounts to the Auditor-General of the Federation as and when due.

The lawmakers said it was a breach of the constitution for a regulatory agency set up by law not to be able to account for funds collected from the public.

Consequently, the committee summoned both the past and the current managements of the NERC.