The House of Representatives has summoned the Managing Director of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and heads of 11 affiliate companies over the management of public resources for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners in the country.
The invitation, via a letter with Reference No: HR/PAC/SCOS/9NASS/QUE.64/56, dated 30 November, 2022, was signed by the chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Honourable Wole Oke.
The fresh invitation was aimed at revisiting the Auditor General for the Federation’s Annual Report on the management of resources for the provision of affordable/social homes by Family Homes Fund Limited.
The letter reads: “I refer to our letter, Ref. No. HR/PAC/SCO5/9NASS/QUE.62/84, dated 18 November, 2022, inviting you to appear before the committee on Friday 25 November, 2022 on the above subject matter.
“In view of the above, the committee is in receipt of your correspondence with Ref. No. NSIA/NAS/HCPA/022/01, dated November 25, 2022, and resolved to request for a soft copy and 15 hard copies of a written brief on each of the following subsidiaries and investment companies of NSIA to enable the committee carry-out its Legislative mandate.”
The 11 organisations summoned by the House Committee included NSIA Motorways investment company; FGF Private Equity Co. Limited; FGF PE Beta Limited; FGF Investment Limited; NSIA Property Investment Company Ltd; and NSIA Power Investment Company Ltd.
Others were NSIA Agriculture Investment Company Ltd; LUTH Advanced Medical Service Ltd; FMCU Advanced Medical Diagnostic Ltd; AKTH Advanced Medical Diagnostic Limited and NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company Ltd.
“A new date has been fixed for your appearance. You are to cause appearance before the committee on Monday, 12 December, 2022 at 11:00am,” Honourable Oke stated in the letter.
The committee, during the investigative hearing also requested for relevant approvals from the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Ahmed, authorising NSIA to grant loan of N1.5 billion to Family Homes Fund Limited on interest-free basis.
According to the audit report, the total capital funding of Family Homes Funding Limited between 2018 and 2020 stood at N65 billion and was paid by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
This represented 13 per cent of N500 billion seed capital promised by the Federal Government for provision of affordable homes for low-income earners in the country.
In the same vein, there was the sum of N1.5 billion as a take-off credit grant from Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in 2017.
The audit review of the Project Status Report revealed that FHFL proposed to build 3,289 legacy homes in Delta, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa and Ogun states between 2018 and 2020.
The inspection team however observed that only 2,107 homes were completed as at 31 December, 2020 were sold instead of the 70 per cent as stated in section 3.1.4(1) of the FHFL Operational Plan 2020.
Out of the 2,107 homes that were completed, only 675 were sold, representing 32 per cent of the total completed, while a total of 1,432 homes, representing 68 per cent, remained unsold, as at 31 December, 2020.
It was also noted that there were discrepancies in the cost of the houses as the company awarded contract prices were higher than the capped cost limit.
According to the audit report, a total sum of N3,230,403,000 was generated internally by FHFL from sales of homes, income from investment, among others, between 2017 and 2020.
The internally generated incomes were allegedly plough back to capital for provision of more homes.
The audit report further observed that out of N16,983,308,000 billion projected to be recouped from the completed homes, only N6,059,268,000 billion had so far been recouped.
This left an outstanding sum of N10,924,040,000 billion due to the company’s inability to sell the remaining 1,432 completed homes, as at 31 December, 2020.
