The Office of the Auditor-General of the federation has raised inquiries to the management of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for allegedly selling off a government plant, property, and equipment worth over N2bn for a petty sum of N13.618m.
Following this, the Minister of Water Resources and the Permanent Secretary in the ministry have been summoned by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.
While speaking at the investigative hearing, the Managing Director of OORBDA, Olufemi Odumosu, justified the action, expressing to the committee that the assets were sold off by auctioneers appointed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources who also approved the auction.
He added that the auction was transparent and was carried out under the supervision of the ministry.
The Managing Director stated that the items auctioned dated back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, whereas the documents presented to the lawmakers showed that the oldest of the property were bought in 1980, while the newest of them was bought in 2013.
The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, however, criticised the auction, noting that the provisions of the Public Procurement Act were not followed in the sale of the items, which in turn resulted in a loss of revenue to the government.
The committee, however, asked the Minister of Water Resources and the Permanent Secretary to appear on June 9, 2022, to explain their role in the auction.
