Post by Trade facilitator on May 19, 2023 12:33:16 GMT 1
The Nigerians Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is yet to account for N264 million in the 2019 financial year, the 2019 audit report of the federation has revealed.
According to the 2019 audit report of the Auditor General of the federation provided by the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), the council made payments without relevant supporting documents, a common trend in most Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).
The AuGF also discovered in the course of the audit exercise that there was widespread non-retirement of personal advances by staff of the council, which it said, was also a common trend in the MDAs.
“These expenditures ranged from running payment for items not supplied or services not rendered, payment for jobs not executed, and diversion of public funds amongst several others. In some instances, spending by the Council could not be accounted for, and there was no evidence to show what the funds were used for.
“In the year under review, the federal government’s budgetary allocation to the Council was N2.9billion but only N1.5billion (49.81%) was released to the council.
“An analysis of the 2019 audit report of the Federation (Non-Compliance) revealed 2 audit issues for NEPC, which posed 3 risks to public finance management in Nigeria.
“The sum of N115, 680,451.61, was raised and payment was made in 30 payment vouchers by the Council between January and December, 2017 for supplies. Relevant supporting documents such as original copy of award letter, invoice and store receipt voucher attached to authenticate the payment were not attached to the payment vouchers,” the report said.
The AuGF attributed the anomaly to weak internal control mechanisms in the agency.
For instance, the Auditor General noted that “the sum of N148, 816.737,03 was paid for retirement of personal advance. According to the report, the said amount was granted for 307 personal advances to officers of the council between May and September 2017 for the procurement of stores maintenance and servicing of meetings.
“Till the submission of the report to the National Assembly in April, 2018, the personal advances remained unretired. The report revealed that some officers were granted advances in excess of the approved threshold of N200 000 thereby circumventing procurement processes.”
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council was established to spearhead the diversification of the Nigerian economy by expanding and increasing non-oil exports for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
To forestall further abuses by MDAs, the Auditor General of the Federation in his recommendation to the NASS, suggested that the executive should take appropriate measures against anybody found to have breached the financial management guidelines.
Part of the recommendation by the AuGF is that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should commence investigation on mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds at the NEPC l to recover the unaccounted funds back to the federation account.
NEPC’s defence
In its response to the report by the AuGF, NEPC management of NEPC stated that all the originals of the documents used for the payments were transferred from the procurement files and attached to payment vouchers kept with the Central Pay Office as requested.
“It was a coincidence that procurement examiners on each visit also requested for original documents to be kept in procurement files for upward of 10 years,” the agency said.
On the payment for jobs not executed and diversion of public funds, the management explained that “the retirement of operational payment advanced to officers was on-going at the time of the audit exercise.
“The retirements have all been updated and the PVs cleared by the Internal Audit Unit for compliance.”
Expert speaks
Reacting to the development, a financial expert and past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Maxi Okechukwu Unegbu, in a telephone interview with Blueprint, said non-remittance of funds to the treasury was a tradition among the MDAs.
While expressing worry at the trend, Unegbu said the anti-graft agencies have not been up and doing as they failed to ensure that MDAs not complying with financial management guidelines were prosecuted.
“The ICPC and EFCC are all in the same boat with them from the top executive to the bottom, they don’t care and there is no credibility and accountability of these people because they are all compromised,” he said.
He urged the incoming administration under the leadership of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reform the system by sitting down with relevant bodies in ensuring that the system is sanitised from the top.
Source: www.blueprint.ng/how-nepc-failed-to-account-for-n264m-in-2019-augf/
According to the 2019 audit report of the Auditor General of the federation provided by the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), the council made payments without relevant supporting documents, a common trend in most Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).
The AuGF also discovered in the course of the audit exercise that there was widespread non-retirement of personal advances by staff of the council, which it said, was also a common trend in the MDAs.
“These expenditures ranged from running payment for items not supplied or services not rendered, payment for jobs not executed, and diversion of public funds amongst several others. In some instances, spending by the Council could not be accounted for, and there was no evidence to show what the funds were used for.
“In the year under review, the federal government’s budgetary allocation to the Council was N2.9billion but only N1.5billion (49.81%) was released to the council.
“An analysis of the 2019 audit report of the Federation (Non-Compliance) revealed 2 audit issues for NEPC, which posed 3 risks to public finance management in Nigeria.
“The sum of N115, 680,451.61, was raised and payment was made in 30 payment vouchers by the Council between January and December, 2017 for supplies. Relevant supporting documents such as original copy of award letter, invoice and store receipt voucher attached to authenticate the payment were not attached to the payment vouchers,” the report said.
The AuGF attributed the anomaly to weak internal control mechanisms in the agency.
For instance, the Auditor General noted that “the sum of N148, 816.737,03 was paid for retirement of personal advance. According to the report, the said amount was granted for 307 personal advances to officers of the council between May and September 2017 for the procurement of stores maintenance and servicing of meetings.
“Till the submission of the report to the National Assembly in April, 2018, the personal advances remained unretired. The report revealed that some officers were granted advances in excess of the approved threshold of N200 000 thereby circumventing procurement processes.”
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council was established to spearhead the diversification of the Nigerian economy by expanding and increasing non-oil exports for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
To forestall further abuses by MDAs, the Auditor General of the Federation in his recommendation to the NASS, suggested that the executive should take appropriate measures against anybody found to have breached the financial management guidelines.
Part of the recommendation by the AuGF is that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should commence investigation on mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds at the NEPC l to recover the unaccounted funds back to the federation account.
NEPC’s defence
In its response to the report by the AuGF, NEPC management of NEPC stated that all the originals of the documents used for the payments were transferred from the procurement files and attached to payment vouchers kept with the Central Pay Office as requested.
“It was a coincidence that procurement examiners on each visit also requested for original documents to be kept in procurement files for upward of 10 years,” the agency said.
On the payment for jobs not executed and diversion of public funds, the management explained that “the retirement of operational payment advanced to officers was on-going at the time of the audit exercise.
“The retirements have all been updated and the PVs cleared by the Internal Audit Unit for compliance.”
Expert speaks
Reacting to the development, a financial expert and past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Maxi Okechukwu Unegbu, in a telephone interview with Blueprint, said non-remittance of funds to the treasury was a tradition among the MDAs.
While expressing worry at the trend, Unegbu said the anti-graft agencies have not been up and doing as they failed to ensure that MDAs not complying with financial management guidelines were prosecuted.
“The ICPC and EFCC are all in the same boat with them from the top executive to the bottom, they don’t care and there is no credibility and accountability of these people because they are all compromised,” he said.
He urged the incoming administration under the leadership of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reform the system by sitting down with relevant bodies in ensuring that the system is sanitised from the top.
Source: www.blueprint.ng/how-nepc-failed-to-account-for-n264m-in-2019-augf/
