The Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Chike Okafor, has warned that a bench warrant of arrest may be issued against the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Ayo Sontinrin, and the Director-General of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Abubakar Dabban, if they fail to appear before the committee.
The threat was issued on Tuesday during the resumed investigative hearing into the alleged misuse of N1.2 trillion allocated for agricultural intervention programmes.
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Mr Okafor said the committee would not hesitate to invoke all parliamentary powers to compel attendance, describing the move as necessary to safeguard public interest.
The investigation began following a resolution by the House on 1 July, mandating its Committees on Nutrition and Food Security; Agricultural Production, Services, Colleges and Institutions; and Finance to probe the alleged mismanagement of government interventions and agricultural funding.
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This probe covers departments, agencies, schemes, and programmes of the federal government outside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
At the investigative hearing, Mr Okafor stated that some organisations had cooperated fully with the committee by honouring invitations, opening their books, and providing verifiable evidence demonstrating no involvement in the misuse of funds
“Such organisations will be commended in the committee’s report to the House, at the end of the investigations,” he said.
However, the committee expressed concern over the Bank of Agriculture, ARCN, and the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), which have largely failed to respond to repeated invitations.
The BOA cited the assumption of duty of the new managing director as an excuse for non-attendance, a justification the committee rejected.
“This is totally unacceptable. The Bank of Agriculture only responded with the excuse of having a new managing director and I wrote back to the MD to say that the bank is an ongoing concern, that having a new MD is not enough reason not to honour the invitation of this panel,” Mr Okafor said.
The committee also scrutinised the operations of Prospect Micro-Finance Bank.
The bank’s Managing Director, Isaac Inwang, informed the committee that N14.6 million was disbursed to 30 poultry farmers under the Anchor Borrower Programme, of which N6 million was recovered and retained by the bank pending further instructions from CBN.
The CBN, however, disputed this claim, stating that N15.5 million had been provided for disbursement.
Deputy Director Hassan Tom told the committee that the bank violated regulations requiring that recovered funds be remitted to CBN within a specified period, noting that the funds were held for more than three years.
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Mr Okafor directed the Micro-Finance Bank to submit all relevant documents by Wednesday, 19 November, and to be ready to answer follow-up questions concerning the discrepancies highlighted by CBN.
The committee also cleared the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) of any wrongdoing.
Its Director-General, Fatuhu Muhammed, confirmed that the agency had not participated in the implementation of the Anchor Borrower Programme, a position verified by the CBN.
Mr Okafor commended Mr Muhammed for appearing before the committee, noting his respect for the authority as a former House member.
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