N26.9bn COVID-19 Expenditure: Reps Clear SDG Boss

• COVID-19, Expenditure

The House of Representatives Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) says it did not query the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs) over alleged award of N26.9bn COVID-19 related contract.

The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Rotimi Agunsoye, made the clarification while reacting to media report claiming that he queried the presidential aide on SDG, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, during a budget defence session at the National Assembly.

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Agunsoye said no such money was appropriated by the National Assembly for the procurement of materials following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agunsoye said that it was important to correct the narrative in the public to avoid misrepresentation of projects carried out by the agency in the past years.

Also, Rep. Akande Babatunde (APC-Lagos State) said there was no basis for querying OSSAP-SDGs or Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire over any irregularities in contract award or procurement of palliatives during the budget defence.

He said that the presentation she made contained a detailed analysis of the projects implemented in the previous years, which is unusual of public officers.

“I think there is mischief in the report; facts before us do not show that the SDGs Office participated in the procurement of palliatives neither was it queried for anything.

“As a matter of fact, members of the committee believe that Princess Orelope-Adefulire-led OSSAP-SDGs has performed creditably well, brilliantly and was well commended by the members of the committee,” he said.

Rep. Uju Kingsley (APC-Imo) said it was not possible for the agency to have spent N26 billion without appropriation.

According to him, we must set the record straight so as not to put the agency in bad light before the public.

The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Rep. Zainab Gimba, describes the report as “fake news” insisting that the House had not found Orelope-Adefulire wanting in the discharge of her assignments.

Gimba advised against peddling of fake news against the presidential aide recalling that such report had been published twice in 2020.