Under Buhari, auditor discovers billions of naira missing in MDAs
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Another government agency has discovered that federal lawmakers have diverted and stolen at least N260 billion via bogus contracts, besides N4.14 billion the Auditor General says is missing in the National Assembly (NASS).
President Muhammadu Buhari lamented in 2019 that about N1 trillion was appropriated in 10 years for the constituency projects of lawmakers without impact.
He proposed N13.08 trillion as 2021 budget but lawmakers raised it to N13.6 trillion, an increase of N520 billion, to accommodate their constituency projects.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has discovered, however, that lawmakers spent less than half the N520 billion on such projects and contrived to pocket the balance of at least N260 billion.
Lawmakers reduced provision for 10,733 projects in the 2022 budget and introduced 6,576 new ones worth N36.59 billion as their constituency projects in Service-Wide Vote.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in January 2022 sued to court Senate President Ahmad Lawan and House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila for failing to probe the N4.14 billion theft in the NASS.
The N4.14 billion is different from N4.4 billion federal Auditor General Adolphus Aghughu discovered “missing, misappropriated or stolen” in the NASS audited reports for 2015, 2017, and 2018.
That totals N8.54 billion officially discovered “missing, misappropriated or stolen” in the NASS in the four years between 2015 and 2018. The sum would be far higher if all stolen funds are discovered and added.
And, indeed, the ICPC has just announced discovery of how lawmakers have used medical outreach to divert and steal at least N260 billion public funds.
Meaning that a grand total of N268.54 has been diverted and stolen by lawmakers, and that is based only on what is in the public domain.
Apart from findings by the ICPC, the reports of the Auditor General state, among others, that
- N105.66 is missing, misappropriated or unaccounted for across 149 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
- 15 MDAs failed to remit N127.13 billion to the treasury.
- The Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) failed to recover and remit N40.126 billion, $921.636 million, and £289,931.82 to the treasury.
- Federal Accountant General Ahmed Idris withdrew N1.695 trillion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) without approval.
- N3.14 billion is missing in the Finance Ministry headed by Zainab Ahmed, who is Buhari’s tax Czar impoverishing Nigerians.
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Related articles:
Auditor says 15 MDAs fail to remit N127.13b to treasury
Probe N3.14b missing in Finance Ministry, SERAP tells Buhari
Auditor says fed Accountant withdrew N1.6b without approval
Auditor asks NPA to refund N40.13b, $921.64m to treasury
US ranks 27th in global corruption. UK 78th, Nigeria 154th
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Buhari’s mute tactics
Buhari’s tactic is to keep mute over the scandals that break under his nose and throw in distraction for his false prophets to sing his praise. Yet the cesspit he superintends festers and stinks right in Aso Rock and is felt all over the world.
He got elected in 2015 because he promised to fight corruption. But he gives cover to his corrupt officials, including Ministers who act independently of collective government, and lawmakers who copy the President in being unaccountable.
Buhari even relishes breaking the law by refusing to obey court judgements, eliciting a threat by SERAP to sue him for contempt of court and keep his feet to the fire to prevent him trampling the Constitution and citizens.
Fraud through phoney projects
ICPC Chairman Bolaji Owasanoye announced in December last year that the commission discovered 257 duplicated projects worth N20.138 billion in the 2021 federal budget. Money from such padding is stolen by public officials.
In the latest revelation, the ICPC said lawmakers named their constituency projects as medical outreaches knowing it is difficult to track such spending because of the fluid nature and the confidentiality of medical records, per reporting by The PUNCH.
The ICPC made the disclosures in its ‘Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative: Phase 3 Report’.
In it, the ICPC said:
- The third phase of its project tracking monitored projects worth over N114.1 billion between 2019 and 2020.
- Lawmakers padded the 2021 budget with over N500 billion and also inserted over 1,000 controversial projects.
Over 50% of project funds stolen
The ICPC report said:
- Lawmakers spent less than 50 per cent of funds they allocated for their so-called medical outreach projects, which are a “cesspool of corruption”.
- Oftentimes projects were not executed but pictures from previous programmes were inserted in project files and passed off as new.
- Lawmakers often domiciled their medical outreach projects in institutions located in cities different from where the projects were meant to be executed.
“Evidently because of pressure occasioned by the CEPTi tracking exercise, some legislators have re-characterised most of their projects to what they termed: ‘medical outreach’.
“This is a brand of soft projects involving the provision of various healthcare interventions ranging from creating awareness on diseases, and providing basic drugs to routine basic surgical interventions, which have suddenly taken the lead in project portfolios without many measurable benefits.
“It is difficult to track because of its soft and fluid nature and the traditional confidentiality of medical records. Analysis shows a sudden uptick in the number of such projects, particularly being sponsored by members of the lower chamber.
“Investigations have discovered that hardly do 50 per cent of the funds released for such projects get expended in the execution of the projects.”
- Contractors for medical projects were carefully chosen and contracts awarded without due process.
- Over 20 projects were domiciled in the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre (NTLC), Zaria.
- Only N309.7 million was disbursed to the contractor for 16 of the 20 projects valued at over N1.2 billion.
- In some other cases, contractors were paid entire contract sums without the required Bill of Quantity.
- Cash was paid to NTLC Chief Executive Labaran Shehu who passed it to lawmakers.
Contractors deliberately chosen
“Investigations found that contractors were deliberately and carefully chosen, and contracts awarded to them without any dint of compliance with due process and asked to reroute the monies in cash to the CEO, Dr Labaran Shehu, who in turn would pass the monies to the sponsors.
“In some of these cases, the contractors were paid the entire sums without a BOQ produced. The contracts were never intended to be executed in the first place.
“The CEO would sometimes inform the contractors that the contracts had been executed on their behalf.
“The contract value of 16 projects is N1,238,863,500 while the amount already disbursed to contractors amounts to N309,715,875.
“The said CEO and all found culpable have been cited for prosecution as appropriate.
SMEDAN used to siphon public funds
“A new method of corruption being perpetrated in SMEDAN [Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria] has been discovered.
“On all projects for the disbursement of grants, SMEDAN pays the funds through some selected microfinance banks ostensibly to disburse the funds to the beneficiaries and keep proper records.
“The microfinance banks take 2.5 per cent of whatever contract sums as disbursement managers, but investigations revealed that this practice is merely a conduit for corruption as the so-called managers neither disburse nor manage anything, but take 2.5 per cent for doing nothing.”
- A microfinance bank in Katsina was selected as the manager for the disbursement of funds in Bayelsa or Nasarawa.
- Over 58 such projects worth billions of naira were discovered in SMEDAN’s 2020 budget alone.
ICPC spokesperson Azuka Ogugua said the commission is enforcing the implementation of projects and “our operatives are ensuring that the projects are executed to the letter.”
