The Senate has given the Ministry of Interior 24 hours to defend the N700 million it received from Service Wide Votes (SWV) for monitoring the governorship elections in Ondo and Edo.
According to the records, the funds were released in two installments: N400 million for Ondo and N300 million for Edo. The Ministry of Interior received N400 million from the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) for logistics and operational support in relation to the Ondo ballot. It goes on to say that N300 million has been provided to the ministry for logistics and operational support in connection with the Edo election.
The direction was given to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Matthew Urhoghide, due to the ministry’s justification that the N700 million will be accounted for by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Belgore stated in defense that It is the NSDC that will account for the money; they merely make requests on behalf of the NSDC
Not satisfied with the defense, Urhoghide stated that the justification was untenable because the NSCDC did not collect the money; rather, it was collected by the ministry.
He went on to say that the NSCDC would only appear before the committee to account for the money that SWV had personally requested.
As a result, the chairman gave the ministry 24 hours to defend the N700 million allocated for the Edo and Ondo elections.
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