BREAKING NEWS, Business
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A DAMNING audit report from Samuel Ukura, auditor-general of the federation, which was submitted to the National Assembly on Monday, March 14, showed some discrepancies of about N3.3tn in the remittance of funds by various ministries, departments and agencies of government as well as foreign missions in the 2014 fiscal year.
This was contained in the 2014 annual audit report Ukura presented to the National Assembly on Monday, through Salisu Maikasuwa, clerk of the Assembly.
Key aspects of the 2014 report include the alleged refusal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to remit some N3,234,577,666,791.35 trillion revenue for the sale of domestic crude oil to the federation account.
The report stated in part: “From the examination of NNPC mandates to the CBN on Domestic Crude Oil Sales and Reconciliation statement of … sub-committee of Federation Allocation Account committee meeting held in January, 2014, amount not remitted to FAAC was N3,234,577,666 791.35.”
According to the report, some $235,685,861.31 representing money realised from gas sale was diverted from the escrow account.
“Review of state profile on sale of gas to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) was not paid to the Federation Account but transferred to some undisclosed escrow accounts. Relevant documents were not made available for verification. “Sales profile on gas in respect of gas export sales due to federation were stated to have been paid and received through the NGL funding accounts, no statements or documents were made available to confirm the receipts as well as the utilisation of these payments made through the named account,” the report further stated.
It was also alleged in the report that a total payment, amounting to N73,547,759,436 was made within the period in breach of established purpose of the funds. It stated: “The sum of N36,432,423,968.73 was released to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for the rehabilitation and construction of dams instead of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
“The sum of N2,894,531250.00 was spent for the procurement of hand sanitizers for schools and critical public places.The sum of N31,324,952,239.87 was payment of subsidy on fertilizer and youth employment in agricultural programmes. “The sum of N2,395,851,978.00 was payment for group Life Assurance Premium for Armed Forces budget in 2013, but not backed. The sum of N500,000,000 was made as payment for agricultural programmes.
“These were at variance with the purpose of the fund. No evidence of these lines of expenditure in the 2014 Appropriation Act,” the AGF revealed in the report.
But the report also indicted the management of the National Assembly that would process and give effect to the report. It stated that the management of the National Assembly made payments of N9,514,568,222.62, without raising payment vouchers. According to the AGF, the management of the National Assembly violated the nation’s financial regulation.
In the same period under review, personal advances were granted to 112 officials of the National Assembly from recurrent votes and 50 members of staff from general service votes from July to December, 2014 for various purposes, all amounting to N1,162,009,305.00.
In the audit report, the AGF also revealed how the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC, United States of America, realised Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) between 2012 and March 2015, but expended the whole amount on sundry expenses. The said amount is $3,705,428.00.
The audit report indicted the leadership of the Nigerian Prisons Service. The AGF in the report said Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax of N2,036,758,176.75 was deducted and said to be remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). According to the report, there is no evidence of remittance and nothing was produced for audit confirmation.
Maikasuwa is expected to forward the report to the leadership of both chambers for further consideration.
— Mar 15, 2016 @ 12:15 GMT
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