NNPC did not remit N3.3trn to FAAC

The Office of the Auditor-General of the
Federation (AGF) yesterday submitted a
damning 2014 audit report of all ministries,
departments and agencies (MDAs) to the
leadership of the National Assembly.
The submitted audit report also captures
embassies and foreign missions.
The AGF, Mr Samuel Ukura, who presented a
copy of the report to the clerk to the National
Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikaswa, for both
chambers, gave highlights of how monies were
diverted or spent by MDAs during the period
under review.
According to the AGF, the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not remit
N3,234577,666,791.35 to the Federation
Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in
January 2014.
The report states that the sale of gas to
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to the
tune of $235,685,861 was not paid to the
federation account; rather, it was transferred
to some undisclosed Escrow accounts.
“Relevant documents were not made available
for verification,” AGF noted in the report.
The report also indicates that the acquisition
and payment of N3,630,000,000 property was
made without a Certificate of Occupancy (C of
O).
According to the report, a total payment,
amounting to N73,547,759,436, was made
contrary to established purpose of the funds.
Other revelations of the audit report include:
“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 sanitisers 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 variances with the purpose of
the fund. No evidence of these lines of
expenditure in the 2014 Appropriation Act,”
the AGF revealed in the report.
Ironically also, the management of the
National Assembly, headed by the Clerk, made
payments of N9,514,568,222.62 without
raising payment vouchers, which, according to
the AGF, violated the nation’s financial
rules.
In the same period under review, personal
advances were granted to 112 staff 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 revealed how the
Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC,
United States of America, realized Internally
Generated Revenue (IGR) of $3,705,428
between 2012 and March 2015, but expended
the whole amount on sundry expenses.
The audit report also indicted the leadership of
the Nigerian Prisons Service. The AGF, in the
report, said the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax
of N2,036,758,176.75 was deducted and was
said to be remitted to Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS), but there is no evidence of
remittance and nothing was produced for audit
confirmation.
At the time of filing in this report, our
correspondent could not ascertain when the
Clerk to the National Assembly woul forward
the report to the leadership of both chambers
for further consideration.