December 08, (THEWILL) – A fortnight ago, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, posted a disturbing report about irregular payments for contracts totalling over N197.72bn across various ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, in the country. In all, 32 MDAS are involved in this brazen corruption.
All of them reportedly breached Paragraph 292, (i) of the Financial Regulations (2009), which mandates open competitive bidding for all procurement processes.”
The AG yearly report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weakness, covered projects undertaken by the MDAs between 2020 and 2021.
The audit report reads, partly, “The sum of N7,386,551,051.09 (seven billion, three hundred and eighty-six million, five hundred and fifty-one thousand, fifty-one naira, nine kobo) was the amount of irregularities in the award of contracts by 32 ministries, departments and agencies.
“The Rural Electrification Agency, Abuja, has the highest amount of N2,117,143,168.09 (two billion, one hundred and seventeen million, one hundred and three thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight naira, nine kobo), while the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc (NSPM) has the least amount of N11,720,000 (Eleven million, seven hundred and twenty thousand naira).”
In another light, N167.59bn was paid for contracts that were either partially done or undone. Among the highest violators of these, “established financial regulations and procurement laws,” are the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc in Abuja, which accounted for N100bn of these irregular payments, making it the highest in this category and the National Centre for Women Development, which recorded the lowest irregularity at N2.17m.
The report also uncovered violations of due process in contract awards amounting to N20.33bn across 24 MDAs.
Furthermore, the report added that, “The sum of N2,407,710,913.92 (two billion, four hundred and seven million, seven hundred and ten thousand, nine hundred and thirteen naira, ninety-two kobo) was the amounts of contracts awarded above the threshold by five ministries, departments and agencies.”
It criticised the weak internal controls within the MDAs and highlighted the need for stricter enforcement of financial regulations.
The report ended by saying that the “Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly have been notified of the findings, with recommendations to ensure accountability and prevent recurrence.”
The time frame of this report is 2020 and 2021. That was three years ago when the country was ruled by the Muhammadu Buhari Administration which made anti-corruption one of its three platforms alongside insecurity and welfare.
Indeed, the Buhari administration was particularly notorious for encouraging this trend. The poor compliance of MDAs to Nigerian laws on submission of accounts got worse in each of Mr Buhari’s first two years in office than any previous year since Nigeria returned to democracy from military dictatorship in 1999.
According to the former Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine, 324 MDAs failed to submit their accounts for audit in 2016, while 215 MDAs failed to submit in 2015. “In each of the 22 previous years before that, the highest number of non-submissions was 148, in 2014,” he said.
The ex-auditor-general summed up the situation thus: “The Financial Statements of Government Statutory Corporations, Companies, Commissions, etc, otherwise called parastatals are not audited by my Office, in line with Section 85(3) (a) of the 1999 Constitution. However, in accordance with Section 85(3) (b) of the Constitution, their Annual Accounts and Auditor’s reports thereon shall be submitted to me for comments.
“Most of the government Corporations, Companies and Commissions have not submitted their audited accounts for 2016 to me. Only 51 audited Financial Statements for 2016 and 149 for 2015 have been submitted to my Office as at 27th December, 2017, despite the provision of Financial Regulation 3210(v) which enjoins the Chief Executive Officers of these bodies to submit both the Audited Accounts and Management Report to me not later than 31st May of the following year of Account.”
As already mentioned, this trend in the public system is disturbing. It shows the level of impunity that has pervaded the bureaucracy and hampers its effectiveness in assisting governments to implement beneficial and remedial policies. That it has assumed a trend proves that no deterrence or punishment whatsoever has been done or put in place to stop it. This is shamefully unbelievable and puts a lie on the anti-corruption stand of the government.
Fair enough, the AGF has done his part, which is to remove the secrecy surrounding the tender and contracts, but what about deterrence and punishment.
As the AGF rightly reported, this cooking of the books by MDAs contravenes Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations, which prohibits payments for services or goods not yet delivered and Section 16(21) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 which call for strict adherence to procurement plans and mandatory approvals before contract awards.
We call on the relevant National Assembly Committees, the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and the federal government to combine efforts on eradicating this plague which only serves to deepen the culture of impunity that keeps disrupting the system and pushes the country backwards and underdeveloped.
