Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked Nigerians to demand for a forensic investigation by independent criminal forensic scientists to ascertain the real motives or otherwise behind the sudden fire incident at the magnificent office complex of the Accountant General of the Federation (known as Treasury House) barely 24 hours after the Senate made a startling discovery of alleged monumental heist of the Schools Feeding programme of the Federal Government.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said that Nigerians should not accept any cock-and-bull stories but must insist that the Nigerian Government comes clean on how it has been unable to transparently render accounts of revenues generated from internal and external sources.

The rights group alleged that there were too many things wrong with the administration of public finance by a set of Federal Government officials who published a rebuttal in the media claiming that the Nigerian Customs Service and the Federal Inland Revenue Services generated multibillion revenues since 2015 but only for the Finance Minister to be going cap-in-hand perpetually begging for foreign loans from all conceivable sovereign entities.

“Something is not adding up. This is why this sudden fire incident at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation that has happened barely few hours after serious suspicions of misuse of public fund running into billions was raised by the usually pliant and docile National Assembly,” HURIWA noted.

It stated that the fire incident was too coincidental and has happened at a time of mounting accusations of frauds and failures by the Federal Government to account for how the multi-billion funds it budgeted and released for the payment of N20,000 palliative to poor Nigerians to cushion the effects and economic adversities created by the lockdown arising from the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria and across the world, were dispensed.

The rights group also stressed that there is every need for a transparent and an open process of investigation to be activated to unravel the remote and immediate circumstances behind the fire incident at the office of the Federal Accountant General in Abuja given that it was not more than two weeks that the Senate reportedly indicted the Accountant General for failing to provide documentary evidence on the implementation of the controversial new payment scheme known as Integrated Payroll And Personnel Information (IPPIS).

Besides, HURIWA wants the National Assembly to go beyond the mere dramatization of the accusations of monumental heist by some officials in the Presidency responsible for the School Feeding Programme in which a whopping N12billion is spent monthly without the observation and absolute adherence to the time-tested and time-honoured provisions of the nationally binding law of the procurement mechanisms as provided by the Procurement Act of the Federation.

HURIWA carpeted the leadership of the National Assembly for failing to insist on getting the names of the consultant that collects N100million monthly from the failed School Feeding Programmes of the federation. “The oversight function of the National Assembly is not to be used to stage media drama to buy accolades from the people of Nigeria. The constitution empowers the National Assembly to unravel dubious activities around the spending of public resources, name, shame and recommend for prosecution by the relevant anti-corruption bodies.

“Nobody in government must be treated as a sacred cow. When the legislative powers of the federation are turned into a joke then the essence of constitutional democracy is miserably abused.

“HURIWA strongly believes that the fire which gutted the Treasury House on Wednesday in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is too suspicious to be dismissed as a mere accident or happenstance. This incident as is notorious in Nigeria that public officials are known to always set their offices ablaze in a bid to cover up their tracks. This time around there are series of questions being asked by all and sundry on how over N60 billion or so was reportedly blown away by the Federal Government in the guise of implementing conditional cash transfer to some ghosts and some political nitwits rather than to the millions of poor Nigerians all across board.

“How did these cash got shared and frittered away in few hours? To whom did these humongous cash get to and where are their records since the National Assembly only yesterday raised alarm and 24 hours later there was fire at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation?

“We are not accusing anyone of theft. We have not called any officer of the Federal Government a thief but certainly we smelt a rat. What we know is that this fire is too suspicious to be dismissed as a mere accident or happenstance. We must get to the roots of this scam. It was gathered that the fire started from around the third floor, razing the building upwards including the Accountant General’s office and most of the important offices."

HURIWA recalled that around February 18 this year, the Senate's Public Accounts Committee adjourned abruptly following the inability of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to give details of the IPPIS, an Information Communications Technology project initiated by the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of payroll administration for its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) but has faced a series of oppositions and accusations of frauds.

The rights group also recalled that the Accountant General was not available to answer an audit query raised against his office but his representative, Adiro Emmanuel, who is a director in his office, was also unable to answer questions asked him by members of the Senate panel. He was reportedly unable to provide necessary documents pertaining to the IPPIS account put at N2.9bn.

Unhappy that they could not achieve much with the probe, members of the Senate panel called for immediate adjournment of proceedings. The Chairman of the panel, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, adjourned the session and gave the Accountant General two weeks to tidy his documents and make himself available to the panel.

On the query concerning the N596 billion Ecological Fund and why the fund was not invested to yield more money for Nigeria, the Accountant General’s explanation that it was against the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) policy to do so wasn’t satisfactory to the lawmakers.

“HURIWA smells a rat in this reported inferno at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and we strongly condemn all the shameful acts of something that appears to be an attempt to cover up so many cases of misapplication of public funds. This is not how to administer the commonwealth of our country. The earlier we fish out bad eggs and punish them the better for all us. Allegations of monumental fraud perpetrated at the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) reportedly created a lot of indignation amongst the leadership of the National Assembly even as the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, made their reservations at a meeting with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, and some top officials of the Ministry in Abuja,” HURIWA said.

It asked Nigerians to meticulously note that the two presiding National Assembly officers called for the immediate suspension of the register used for the scheme when informed by officials that accompanied the Minister to the gathering that some N12 billion was being paid monthly for the school feeding programme without verification, noting, “this call was made only yesterday (April 7) and now the fire. Who is fooling who?”