THE Office of Auditor General for the Federation (OauGF) has uncovered financial infractions amounting to N3.403 trillion in several government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the financial year ending 31st December 2021.
The infractions reported in 28 audit issues are contained in the 2021 audit report of non-compliance/internal control weaknesses in Ministries Departments and Agencies of the federation for the 2021 financial year was submitted to the National Assembly via a letter reference number AuGF/AR.2021/02, dated 15th October 2024 signed by the Auditor General for the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira.
The report said N2.902 trillion of the amount came from the failure of eight government agencies to recover outstanding government revenue with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc failing to recover N2.896 trillion of the amount.
In a letter addressed to the Clerk to the National Assembly, the Auditor General said the infractions are part of what he called cross-cutting issues which he said are the same non-compliance/internal control weaknesses that were identified in at least four (4) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) covered by the Auditor-General for the Federation’s Annual Report on Non-compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in MDAs of the FGN for the year ended 31%! December, 2021.
He said the attention of the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly has been drawn to each of these issues through recommendations, including sanctions, with a view to stemming the tide. Also, these issues were treated in detail under each MDA.
He said the essence of bringing these Issues together is to further assist the Public Accounts Committees and other Stakeholders to be able to see, at a glance, the amount this Report seeks to help the Federal Government of Nigeria recover from a class of Issues tagged ‘Cross-cutting’.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper said the sum of N7.386 billion was the amount of irregularities in the award of contracts by thirty-two (32) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with the Rural Electrification Agency, Abuja having the highest infraction of N2.118 billion while the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc. (NSPM) has the least N11.7 million.
The report alleged irregular payment of N115.675 billion by sixty-four (64) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc., Abuja having the highest infraction with N96.2 billion while the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, has the least amount of N1.323 million.
The Auditor General said the sum of N167.592 billion was for contracts not executed by 31 MDAs in the year under reference with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading paying a whopping N100 billion while the National Centre for Women Development paid the least amount for unexecuted contracts to the tune of N2.171 million.
The report said six MDAs failed to deduct withholding Tax and Value Added tax amounting to N129.341 million as accruing tax to the government with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) failing to deduct the highest tax amounting to N90.58 million while the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment came last with N623,162.80.
It said further that 21 MDAs failed to deduct the sum of N2.636 billion as tax from payments to several beneficiaries, with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Pic. (NSPM) coming top with N41.009 billion, while the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Meta coming from the rear N617,427.66.
According to the report, 11 MDAs failed to remit N11.561 billion tax deducted from taxpayers to the relevant tax authorities, with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc. (NSPM), failing to remit the highest amount of N10.393 billion while the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina failed to remit N1 .371 million to come last.
The report also said that the sum of N8.312 billion was paid out by about 40 MDAs without supporting documents to back up the payment, with the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), being the biggest culprit with N1.529 billion while the Federal College of Land Resources Technology, Owerri, has the least amount of N1.992 million.
It also alleged that 8 MDAs misapplied the sum of N663,854,877.01 in contravention of extant laws, with the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, spending about N253,532,050.49 of the money, while 24 other MDAs awarded contract worth N20.334 billion without following due process, with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc. (NSPM) awarding contract valued at N14.136 billion without following due process.
It said further that the Federal Inland Revenue Service failed to recover about N69.928 billion as tax liabilities from 26 of its outstation offices within the period under review, While items valued at N968.908 billion were taken from the store without ledger charge by 29 MDAs with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Lagos, alone accounting for N125 billion of the items.
The Audit report also said that in 2021, 15 Ministries, Departments and Agencies carried out extra-budgetary expenditures amounting to N15.786 billion with the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), accounting for N8.86 billion of the amount.
In addition, it said 6 Ministries, Departments and Agencies carried out virement of about N2,63 billion without approval with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)accounting for N1 .9 billion of the amount, While about N122.5 billion was left unaccounted for by 19 MDAs, with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc failing to N111.601 of the amount.
It also reported that about N6.602 billion was generated internally by 29 MDAs, but not remitted to the appropriate authority, saying that the National Pension Commission, withheld the highest amount of N4,429,550,386.58, while 35 MDAs circumvented the procurement process leading to the loss of N1,948,132,710.98.
It accused 9 MDAs of paying external solicitors about N243,932,964.27 engaged without the Attorney-General’s Fiat with the Bureau of Public Procurement having the highest amount of N112,261,659.00, while another 5 MDAs paid some unspecified third parties about N439,688,368.76 without the attorney general’s approval.
Five MDAs awarded contracts valued at N2.407 billion and above their approval threshold with Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria has the highest amount of N1,065,614,232.70, while staff and unauthrised persons from another five sets of MDAs illegally held on to government vehicles valued at N747,749,365.06, with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc. (NSPM) Abuja having the highest amount of N413,343,623.00.
Other infractions reported by the Auditor General include denial of access to documents with expenditure amount to N21,480,891,930.77 by 11 MDAs, unretired cash advances in 30 MDAs amounting to N1,300,643,209.41 and payment without vouchers amounting to N1,135,025,464.67, with the Federal Ministry of Works (Housing Sector) having the highest amount of §1,076,662,242.61.