By Abiola Olawale
Fresh details have emerged about how about twenty-eight Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) reportedly made several illegal money withdrawals to the tune of N13.95 trillion.
Findings of an audit report done in 2020 revealed that the 28 MDAs were allegedly involved in illegal transactions following a careful review of the Bank Balances from the Consolidated Financial Statement.
The audit report revealed that the said MDAs had negative balances to the tune of N13.95 trillion (N13,955,069,757,335.20).
The New Diplomat reports that these illegal transactions violate the Financial Regulations 2009 which states that: “No government bank account shall be overdrawn, or any temporary advance obtained from a bank. In the event of an account being overdrawn, the officer responsible shall be made to refund any bank charges incurred thereon”.
A breakdown of the audit report revealed that the Federal Ministry of Environment topped the list of defaulting MDAs, having overdrawn N350.85 billion. Second on the list is the Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute, which withdrew N2.65 billion, and the Public Complaints Commission (N1.48 billion). The Federal Pay Offices in Uyo (N27.95 billion), Benin (N27.95 billion), and Ilorin (N107.50 billion) were the bottom three on the list.
According to the Auditor–General of the Federation (AuGF), Mr. Shaakaa Chira, no approvals were granted to the MDAs for the overdraws, nor were any explanations provided by the MDAs regarding the transactions.
Chira blamed the irregularities on “weaknesses in the internal control system surrounding the consolidation process at the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation,” adding that the unauthorized expenditure and non-disclosure exposed the federal government to avoidable interest payments.
However, an audit of account statements through the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) traced some of the withdrawals to personnel and overhead financing as well as bank charges against MDAs for the usage of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gateway—a clear negation of the essence of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
GIFMIS is a comprehensive financial reporting system launched by the federal government in April 2012 to tackle budget management and accounting across MDAs, to address issues of economic inefficiency.
