By Mercy Aikoye
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets has queried the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) for taking money from the budget for its operation without authorisation.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon Ademorin Kuye issued the query when the agency’s Managing Director, Dr Armstrong Takang, appeared before it to give account of their activities on Tuesday.
The Committee, which grilled Takang and members of his team on efforts to boost the revenue of government expressed disappointment with MOFI for failing to live up to expectations.
The panel berated the agency for reckless expenditure without improving government revenue.
Takang had in his presentation told the lawmakers that MOFI took money from the budget.
Kuye noted that: “In your report we would like you to refer us to the section of the law where you are permitted to take money from the budget. How you have been getting funded since you came into office?”
The lawmaker said the agency wasted the Commitee’s time as it did not provide any answer to its questions, and demanded various documents from the agency on the assets it was managing.
“This is an agency we had high hopes of. What we request of you now is this classes of assets, including shares of publicly traded entities, limited liability entities and foreign based and other businesses. A list of these assets home and abroad. Improvements that you have made thereupon and how it has helped the GDP.
“Another class is assets is the financial assets, which includes public and private equities investments, fixed income and hedge funds, the fixed assets includes the real estates. We need you to give us a list of those estates.
“We would like to have the value of each if these real assets, revenue made through them for the past ten years and the contributions they have made to the GDP.
