N802bn Audit Queries: Reps Summon NNPCL, INEC Over Alleged Financial Breaches
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee is set to question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Independent National Electoral Commission over alleged financial breaches totalling more than N802.19 billion.
The committee, chaired by the member representing Ede North, Ede South, Ejigbo and Egbedore Federal Constituency of Osun State, Bamidele Salam, will commence the exercise on Monday and continue on Tuesday, October 6, as part of its constitutional responsibility to scrutinise the country’s public accounts.
The issues under review are contained in the Auditor-General for the Federation’s reports covering the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years, which raised queries relating to procurement procedures, revenue management, payments, statutory deductions and compliance with financial regulations by various government institutions.
A member of the committee, who spoke exclusively with The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on its behalf, said the Auditor-General’s reports had raised several questions concerning the NNPCL in its 2021 audit and INEC in its 2022 and 2023 audits.
He said, “On Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex, the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee will be questioning several agencies.
“As a matter of fact, we are starting on Monday, October 5, with some agencies including the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Federal Capital Territory Judicial Service Commission, Federal Colleges of Education, Okene and Gombe and the University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. There are others I have not mentioned.
“Tuesday is special because we hope to have in the House the accounting officers and subject matter experts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“For the NNPC Limited, I am aware that the Auditor-General’s Report of 2021 raised alleged financial infractions of about N514bn, while in the case of INEC, we shall be looking at clarifications on alleged financial breaches of about N288.19bn as contained in the 2022 Auditor-General for the Federation audit query.”
Findings indicate that the N514bn queried against the NNPCL includes alleged irregular deductions of N343.64bn from domestic crude oil sales.
The Auditor-General’s report also reportedly questioned N83.66bn allegedly warehoused from miscellaneous revenue in a sinking fund account, alongside N82.95bn in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.
Another N3.75bn was reportedly flagged as a shortfall arising from the sale of petroleum products.
The committee is expected to ask the NNPCL to provide relevant supporting documents and explanations concerning the transactions and respond to the audit queries raised by the Auditor-General.
On INEC, the committee member said the electoral commission would be required to provide explanations on several issues relating to procurement processes, payments to contractors and alleged failure to remit statutory deductions.
“There are several audit queries concerning procurement procedures, payments made to contractors as well as failure to remit statutory deductions by the commission during the administration of the former INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who is now an ambassador,” he said.
Asked to disclose details of the alleged infractions involving INEC, the lawmaker said the committee would focus on financial transactions dating back to the 2019 general election.
“There are questions to be asked on money spent starting from the 2019 general election,” he said.
The Auditor-General’s 2022 report stated that more than N5.31bn was allegedly paid for the supply of smart card readers for the 2019 general election without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The smart card readers were deployed by INEC as part of the technology used during the 2019 general election before the commission introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the 2023 elections.
The proceedings are part of the Public Accounts Committee’s constitutional mandate to examine findings contained in the Auditor-General’s reports, demand explanations from public institutions and ensure that outstanding audit queries are adequately addressed.
However, an audit query does not, by itself, establish wrongdoing, as the affected institution is entitled to provide explanations, supporting documents and evidence before the committee reaches any conclusion.
Other agencies listed to appear before the Salam-led committee on Tuesday include the National Mathematical Centre, National Power Training Centre, National Research Institute for Chemical Technology and the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency, among others.
Efforts to obtain the comments of Salam were unsuccessful, as calls made to him were not answered, while he also did not respond to messages sent to him on WhatsApp.
Source: The Punch