At a time the Minister of Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu is warning up to beat his chest that his drive to ICT Varsity in Nigeria is becoming a reality, the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications has threatened to sanction Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, the director, Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), for alleged violating the federal government’s policy on the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The new twist which experts say may weaken the planned takeoff of the school in September, using the facility of the DBI may hit the rock pending when investigations may end.
According to the House members, DBI had allegedly disbursed over N1.2 billion for capital projects and procurement without following due process.
During the lawmakers’ drill of the director at an oversight function visit to DBI, the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications told Adinde that not paying DBI funds into the TSA implied that “you’re running afoul of financial regulation,” as “every government agency remits their funds into the TSA”.
In his answers, Adinde noted that the practice at DBI has been the maintenance of only one operational account with a commercial bank, adding that, “The practice I met here, we operate only one account with a commercial bank and I and the Director of Finance are signatories to the account.”
But leader of the Committee, Hon Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, who represented that chairman, said the Committee discovered the financial discrepancy when its members paid an oversight visit to the headquarters of the learning centre in Abuja.
