The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked Galaxy Backbone, the information technology and shared service provider of the federal government to respond to allegations of financial infractions, violation of financial and contract extant rules and regulations running into billions of Naira.
Chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, who announced this yesterday said the decision was taken following several queries as contained in the Auditor-General’s For the Federation’s 2021 Report.
Representing the Managing Director of the Galaxy Backbone was Sani Ibrahim, the Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Service along with other key officials of the company.
The committee found Galaxy Backbone guilty of non-remittance of taxes worth N329,845,000, which was to be paid within the stipulated 21 days and ruled that necessary sanctions should apply.
Another issue that came under scrutiny was the payment of N66,799,440 for a contractual obligation without relevant documentation.
The committee requested the organisation to furnish it with details of the transaction within 72 hours. The committee also uncovered the payment to a company in the United States of America (USA), ST Engineering, which used the same address in terms of street and number in two different states.
The committee observed that there was no evidence of execution of the contract. Galaxy Backbone was also given another 72 hours to furnish the PAC with all the details of the contractor and all documents as required by Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and other regulatory procedures.
The committee was miffed with the failure by Galaxy Backbone to convincingly explain other violation such as e-payment violations totaling N12, 661,300 in addition to other doubtful payments amounting to N2,433,701.
56 as well as procurement contract of $164, 403. The committee consequently directed Galaxy Backbone to reappear on February 27, 2025 by 1pm.
