Sunday Ehigiator
Nigerian anti-corruption group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has accused several federal government agencies of squandering public funds worth over N92 billion, and millions of money in foreign currencies.
The group has therefore petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the agencies.
In a petition signed by HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, and sent to the Chairman, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, as made available to THISDAY yesterday, the group asked EFCC to identify corrupt officials and punish them.
The group also noted that the probe might open up terrific financial fraud involving top civil servants and serving Federal Ministers.
HEDA said it expected the probe to lead to a radical restructuring of the country’s civil service to free the institution from the fetters of graft and ineptitude which diminishes the country’s administrative efficiency.
HEDA’s petition was hinged on the Auditor-General’s Annual Report on the Accounts of the Federation of Nigeria 2016, indicating discrepancies and suspicious misappropriation of public funds by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s).
According to HEDA, the funds were expended by several Federal Government agencies including but not limited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (Nigerian Embassies Netherlands, Ireland, Germany), the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), the Nigerian Navy, Defence Headquarters, the Ministry of Justice among many others.
The embassies alone were said to have received over N233 million without adequate back up documents.
According to Suraju, “Transparency should begin with agencies of the government. They should show good examples for public and private institutions to emulate. What we are seeing is a situation where some of the federal government agencies are violating the country’s laws with impunity.
“The EFCC has the historical responsibility to impose sanctions where necessary.”
He described the scam as one of the greatest outflow of illicit funds suspected to have gone into private pockets in the civil service the country has seen in recent years.
Referring to the Auditor-General’s Annual Report, Suraju said the report did not only cover financial mismanagement, it also involved outright breach of financial management procedures.
“At the Ministry of Information for instance, the report noted that insurance documents in the custody of the Ministry were not produced for audit examination despite repeated demands while asset Register was not maintained in the ministry as at July, 2017, contrary to the requirements of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards implementation directive of 1st January 2015.
“At the Ministry of Defence, some N265, 752,599 was not accounted for from the ministry’s account for the year 2016, while at the Ministry of Interior, the report revealed that in the Enugu command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) the sum of N10,825,500 realised from the regulation of private guard and security companies in the state for the year 2014 to 2016 was not remitted into government chest.
“It was also revealed at the Kaduna Command that store items valued at N537, 600 purchased during the year 2015, were not taken on store ledger charge, as neither SRV nor store verifier’s certificate were attached to the financial records relating to the procurements against Financial Regulations 2402(i) and 2802 which stipulate that items of store shall be duly received into the store by issuing SRV and be subjected to Stock Verifier’s examination and stamping.
“At the Defence Industries Corporation, (DICON) 25 contracts worth N493,616,140.00 were awarded to various contractors in 2015 and 2016, however, the statutory 5 per cent VAT and WHT totaling N28,118,599.51 were not deducted from the amounts paid to the contractors, thus resulting in loss of revenue for the federal government.”
The group said this was in contravention of Financial Regulations 234 (i) which states that “It is mandatory for accounting officers to ensure full compliance with the dual roles of making provision for the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) on supply and services contract and actual remittance.”
HEDA also noted that the Auditor-General’s directive that the sum of N1,096,700, which is the total sum of the non-executed projects to be recovered from the contractor, has not been adhered to.
“The Nigerian Industrial Court was also caught in the web of poorly accounted funds totaling N124, 632, 952 paid to seven contractors involved in the construction and rehabilitation of NICN temporary offices and projects, without specifying details of work carried out by the contractors nor were the payment vouchers supported with vital documents to authenticate the payments.
“This thereby makes it difficult to establish the contract sum, contract variation, VAT deductions, WHT deductions, details of previous payments, outstanding balance and retention fee.”
HEDA said at the Ministry of Justice, it was revealed that personal advances granted to various officers totaling N16,467,800 remained unretired contrary to the provision of the Financial Regulation 1420.
Also, “at the Senate, some advances totalling N747 million were said to have been granted to staff between February and December 2016 for various procurements and services which were not retired as at the time of examination in June 2017.
“At the House of Representatives, PAYE deductions from staff salaries totaling N821,564,296.48 were claimed to have been remitted to the tax authorities but receipts for the remittances were not produced for audit verification in contravention of Financial Regulation 235.”
The National Institute for Legislative Drafting was also listed to be linked with over N300 million funds not properly accounted for.
HEDA listed the high mismanagement of funds, negligence and overwhelming corruption in the MDAs to the tune of over N92,270,721,358.96. Other unaccounted funds were $225,905, and €4,440,835.64.
The group said the funds would have gone a long way in providing the much needed infrastructural development for poor Nigerians, while also noting that the reports raises suspicion of fraud, corruption and sharp practices.
Informed by the mandate of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004, HEDA therefore requested the Commission to investigate the MDAs indicted by the report and prosecute anyone found culpable.
