A recent report published by the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative has unveiled alarming financial discrepancies across various Nigerian government agencies.
The report, which covers the financial year ending December 31, 2021, indicates that a staggering N3.5 trillion remains unaccounted for.
Additionally, the report disclosed a series of alarming discrepancies, including N7.4 billion linked to contract awarding irregularities, N115.8 billion connected to improper payments, and N167.6 billion associated with payments for uncompleted or nonexistent projects and contracts.
The report outlined numerous inconsistencies, including under-deduction and non-deduction of taxes amounting to N129.3 million and N2.6 billion, respectively. Non-remittance of taxes reached a staggering N11.6 billion, further exacerbating the issue.
Additionally, the report identified significant payments lacking proper supporting documentation, totaling N8.3 billion, and violations of the federal government’s e-payment policy amounting to N18 billion. The misappropriation of funds reached N663.9 million.
The report highlights various key areas of concern, including:
- N20.3 billion lost due to a lack of due process in contract awards
- N122.5 billion in unaccounted expenditures
- N69.9 billion in tax liabilities recovered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service
- N968.9 million in unrecorded store item charges
- N15.8 billion in extra-budgetary spending
- N2.6 billion in unauthorized virement
- N6.6 billion in unremitted internally generated revenue
- N1.9 billion tied to procurement process circumvention
- N21.5 billion connected to denial of access to essential documents
- N1.3 billion in unretired cash advances
Payment without paid vouchers amounted to N1.1 billion, payment without pre-payment audit amounted to N4.7 billion, engagement of external solicitors without attorney general’s fiat amounted to N243.9 million, payment to third party without power of attorney amounted to N439.7 million, award of contracts above thresholds amounted to N2.4 billion, illegally custody of government vehicles amounted to N747.7 million, payment without revalidation of paid vouchers amounted to N403.2 million, while splitting of contract to circumvent procurement/approval threshold amounted to N731.2 million.
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