Aminu Umar-Sadiq, the managing director and chief executive officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, as well as the leaders of 11 affiliate companies, have been called before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts to testify about how they handled funds intended for the construction of affordable and social housing for low-income earners in Nigeria.
The committee issued the summons via a letter with reference number HR/PAC/SCOS/9NASS/QUE.64/56, dated November 30, 2022.
The summons was based on an authority query issued by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in its annual report.
The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, wrote, “I refer to our letter Ref. No. HR/PAC/SCO5/9NASS/QUE.62/84, dated 18th November 2022, inviting you to appear before the committee on Friday, November 25, 2022, on the above subject matter. In view of the above, the committee is in receipt of your correspondence with Ref. No. NSIA/NAS/HCPA/022/01, dated November 25, 2022, and resolved to request for a soft copy and 15 hard copies of a written brief on each of the following subsidiaries and investment companies of NSIA to enable the committee to carry out its legislative mandate.”
The 11 organisations summoned by the committee are NSIA Motorways Investment Company, FGF Private Equity Co. Limited, FGF PE Beta Limited, FGF Investment Limited, NSIA Property Investment company Ltd, NSIA Power Investment Company Ltd, NSIA Agriculture Investment Company Ltd, LUTH Advanced Medical Service Ltd, FMCU Advanced Medical Diagnostic Ltd, AKTH Advanced Medical Diagnostic Limited, and NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company Ltd.
“A new date has been fixed for your appearance. You are to cause appearance before the committee on Monday, December 12, 2022, at 11am,” the letter added.
The committee, at its investigative hearing in Abuja on Wednesday, also requested evidence of relevant approvals granted by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, authorising the NSIA to grant a loan of N1.5bn to Family Homes on an interest-free basis.
The audit report said the total capital funding of family homes between 2018 and 2020, which was N65bn, was paid by the ministry, representing 13 per cent of the N500bn seed capital promised by the Federal Government for provision of affordable homes for low-income earners in the country.
Another N1.5bn take-off credit grant was released by the NSIA in 2017.
The office noted that during project inspection visits to Delta, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa and Ogun states where FHFL proposed to build 3,289 legacy homes, only 2,107 homes were completed, out of which only 675 homes were sold, representing 32 per cent of the total completed as of December 31, 2020.
The query said a total sum of N3,230,403,000 was generated internally by Family Homes from sales of homes, income from investment, among others, between 2017 and 2020, which was ploughed back to capital for provision of more homes.
The audit further showed that out of N16,983,308,000 projected to be recouped from the completed homes, only N6,059,268,000 had so far been recouped, leaving an outstanding sum of N10,924,040,000 due to the company’s inability to sell the remaining 1,432 completed homes as of December 31, 2020.
Source: Punch
