OFFICE of the Auditor-General of the Federation has uncovered irregular payments for contracts amounting to N197.72 billion in Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, a subsidiary of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company and other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the country.
The details of the findings were disclosed in the Auditor-General’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses, covering activities between 2020 and 2021, made available to newsmen.
These violations include irregular payment for contracts, and payment for jobs partially executed or not executed at all, contravening the country’s financial regulations and procurement laws.
Specifically, N7.386 billion was the amount of irregularities in the award of contracts by 32 MDAs.
REA topped the chart with N2.12 billion while NSPM recorded the least with N11.7 million.
“The sum of N7,386,551,051.09 was the number 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, 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,” the report indicated.
The worst revelation of the report showed that the sum of N167.59 billion was paid for jobs or contracts that were either partially executed or not executed at all. This contravenes Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations, which prohibits payments for services or goods not yet delivered.
In this aspect, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, an agency in the country’s power sector accounted for N100 billion of these irregular payments, making it the highest in this category. Meanwhile, the National Centre for Women Development recorded the lowest irregularity at N2.17 million.
The report read, “The sum of N167,592,177,559.40 was the number of payments for jobs/contracts not executed by 31 ministries, departments and agencies.
“The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc., Abuja, has the highest amount of N100,000,000,000.00, while the National Centre for Women Development has the least amount of N2,171,766.44.” Similarly, the report also uncovered violations of due process in contract awards amounting to N20.33 billion across 24 MDAs.
The violations are against Section 16(21) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 which requires strict adherence to procurement plans and mandatory approvals before contract awards. Meanwhile, the audit report found that these requirements were often ignored or violated. The report showed that NSPM, a subsidiary of CBN, was responsible for the highest amount of due process violations, totaling N14.14 billion, while the Corporate Affairs Commission had the least, at N8.98 million.
“The sum of N20,334,104,016.27 was the number of contracts awarded in violation of due process by 24 ministries, departments and agencies.
“The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc Abuja has the highest amount of N14,136,472,333.16 while the Corporate Affairs Commission has the least amount of N8,980,603.72,” it added.
Financial corruption has been the bane of Nigeria’s problem. In July 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics’s corruption survey report showed that Nigerians paid N721 billion as bribes to public officials in 2023.
