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By Nicholas Kalu, Abuja

The House of Representatives has queried the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) over the spending of N2.2 trillion allocation to the Debt Management Office (DMO) in 2018 but which the agency cannot explain.

The DMO said it did not get the money and that it was the OAGF that managed it.

Members of the House Public Accounts Committee, who quizzed the DMO’s Director of Finance and Accounts, Mrs. Feyi Olumide-Akinyemi, said it was wrong that the agency was appropriated money it could not account for.

The quizzing was part of the current investigative hearings into financial activities of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) following a query from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF) over dwindling revenue to the government.

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The DMO said although the figure was appropriated to it but that it could only account for N721,251,798, which was allocated to the office.

Mrs. Olumide-Akinyemi, who appeared with a colleague, said it was the Accountant General that was responsible for the fund, adding that the OAGF had made a case that it should be separated.

The DMO representatives said the money appeared on the agency’s account because it did a projection on the cost the country would bear.

“It does not come to our books; it does not come to our account; it does not reflect anywhere in our books. We do not have access to the other one. That is why we always say it should be separated.

“During each process, the Budget Office requires the DMO to give them a projection of interest payments. So, these are the interest projections we made that the government would bear on our domestic and external debts and then a provision to take care of local contractors, which is the sinking fund,” they said.

Committee Chairman Oluwole Oke was curious that the DMO could not account for the amount that was appropriated for it, which did not also appear in the Accountant General’s books.

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