Udora Orizu in Abuja
Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) Adolphus Aghughu says he has uncovered multibillion naira financial irregularities in the audited 2017 financial statement of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). The revelation was contained in an audit query dated May 24, 2021, signed by the AuGF, and submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC). The query covered stand-alone financial statements, non-current assets (depreciation, addition to fixed assets, Property, Plant and Equipment, and interest in joint ventures), current assets (cash and cash equivalent, trapped fund in Enterprise Bank, inventories, trade receivables, etc.), liabilities, statement of profit and loss, and other comprehensive incomes, expenditure, and administrative expenses.
The query included N65.7 billion spent on fixed assets; N390.581 billion on Property, Plant and Equipment; N168, 458,000 in bank balances within and outside Nigeria, which represent balance from subsidiaries; $3.231 million trapped in Enterprise Bank; N1.5 billion staff housing loan; and advance payment of about N4.479 billion to contractors.
On the N65.763 billion spent on fixed assets, the AuGF said management should furnish the analysis of the assets acquired during the year, showing suppliers, evidence of ownership, gross amounts, outstanding amounts (if any), taxes deducted and remitted to the relevant tax authority, and the current status of the assets.
On Property, Plant and Equipment for which N390.581 billion was spent, Aghughu said the carrying amount of the properties, plants, and equipment, and properties on lease were qualified in the auditor’s independent report because they were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to confirm the completeness, existence, and valuation of the carrying amounts. To this end, the management was required to provide the schedules of movable assets purchased by the concessionaires per the various lease agreement and furnish the list of assets in use and projects in progress acquired or being executed by the concessionaires for the authority under the ports development programmes of the lease agreements for audit scrutiny.
They are also expected to provide sufficient records, backed up with detailed fixed asset register to support the existence, completeness and carrying amounts of property, plant and equipment as well as properties on lease, the query stated. It added that the NPA management should provide an updated non-current asset register showing the dates of purchase, location of assets, and amount depreciated to date.
According to the query, the NPA management is also to provide a schedule of bank balances showing the names and locations of the banks at which cash and cash equivalent from current assets of the authority are maintained, the individual account balances, and the respective comparative figures.
The AuGF asked the NPA management to explain the status of the Staff Home Ownership Scheme as well as the N1.5 billion deposited as initial take-off fund with Aso Savings and Loans Plc. He said N1.5 billion was deposited with Aso Savings and Loans Plc, which served as an agent for the creation of mortgages and the subsequent collections of repayments on the same mortgages, adding that the authority later severed relationship with Aso Savings and Loans Plc following the federal government directive on Treasury Single Account implementation in 2015.
Similarly, the AuGF demanded explanation from the NPA management on the current status of about N2.334 billion received from shipping companies in 2013 as tracking fees and deposited with First City Monument Bank and was supposed to have been transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2017. He said the amount represented cargo-tracking fees from shipping companies collected by the authority in the first instance in 2013. He said it was noted that the affected companies protested against the fees and it was stopped, and the amount collected to the point of suspension was recorded as a credit against the authority.
The Public Accounts Committee of the House, chaired by Hon. Wole Oke, has fixed July 8, 2021 for both the management of the NPA and the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, to come for the defence of the audit query.
