ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home National

ICPC uncovers budget fraud in federal MDAs

Payment, revenue platforms compromised

17th February 2021
in National
0
ICPC uncovers budget fraud in federal MDAs

ICPC Chairman Prof Bolaji Owasanoye

0
SHARES
39
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

From Uche Usim, Abuja

An investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Wednesday said it has uncovered deep-seated corruption bordering on budget manipulation by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

ICPC Chairman Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, who made the disclosure in Abuja at the Budget Office/ICPC Interactive Forum with Directors of Finance and Accounts and Directors of Internal Audit, stated that the different layers of fraud have led to revenue haemorrhage as the workers continually shortchange the system.

Owasanoye said that the Commission detected the infractions during a System Study Review of Budget Implementation.

‘There was budget manipulation by most MDAs which resulted in MDAs receiving both appropriation and releases beyond their actual needs. While these surpluses were open to the risk of being misappropriated as is tradition,’ he said.

‘In 2019, ICPC reviewed 208 agencies of government that are funded from the Federal Treasury and came up with outstanding results which included the discovery of N31.8 billion personnel cost surpluses for 2017 and 2018, and misapplication of N19.8 billion and N9.2 billion from Personnel Cost and Capital Fund, respectively.’

As a result of the discoveries, Owasanoye said that N42 billion unspent surplus allocations for Personnel Cost for 2019 alone were blocked from possible abuse and pilfering mostly from health and some educational institutions.

The ICPC boss expressed worry that despite reminding erring MDAs with federal circulars prohibiting such practices, the infractions have continued, thus requiring stronger measures on the part of the government and anti-corruption agencies to stem the tide.

The ICPC boss said based on the review, the agency discovered padding of nominal rolls including the inclusion of outsourced staff; warrant releases in excess of actual personnel cost needs; inadequate budgetary overhead allocation; and inadequate or non-budgetary allocation for outsourced services.

Owasanoye further revealed that there were the issues of REMITA payment system not allowing for the matching of account numbers with account names and thus making fraud easy; inordinate balance staffing levels between Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres.

He said the ICPC discovered the payment of advances beyond the approved limit of N200,000 to individuals’ accounts; advances for projects paid into project accountants’ personal accounts with commercial banks; and payments to individual staff/accountants for disbursement to ad-hoc employees/outsourced services and other employees

The ICPC Chairman explained that there was a payment to project officers/accountants to pay casual/onsite employees who are employed for short periods and cannot be registered on the platform; while cash was made for staff Duty Tour Allowance, Transport, collation of results and the like for personnel of paramilitary services under the Ministry of Interior for promotion exercise.

To address these challenges, he called on the Federal Government to stop the late release of budgetary allocation especially at the end of the year to check fraud and corrupt practices by Ministries Departments and Agencies of government.

He said that the practice where funds are released at the end of the year for the execution of projects raises the opportunity for frenzied expenditure, circumvention of procedure, fraud and corruption.

He said: ‘MDAs should be advised to issue financial reports on time to enable completion of annual audit and publishing of results on time. Sanctions should be introduced for inordinate delays.

‘Government should avoid late releases of budget allocation, especially at the end of the year as the practice raises the opportunity for frenzied expenditure, circumvention of procedure, fraud and corruption.

‘Appropriated funds should be released in time to allow for strict compliance with the procurement procedure. Otherwise deferred till the following fiscal year as the government is a continuum.’

He also recommended that unspent balances should be blocked and restrained/reversed immediately salaries are paid to prevent misuse.

The ICPC boss also said there is a need to prevent unauthorised editing of payroll information data on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System platform for MDAs until after payment has been concluded by granting them view-only status.

He added that prevention of inflation of nominal rolls by MDAs for the 2021 budget and beyond was vital to eliminate surplus allocation and releases, and other resultant infractions.

He called on the Federal Government to withdraw MDAs’ access to non-regular, pension and National Housing Insurance Scheme lines on GIFMIS and restrict the same to IPPIS staff.

To eliminate any fraudulent payments, Owasanoye called on the Federal Government to direct the application of the Bank Verification Number as a requirement in populating the Personnel Cost Budget Template and IPPIS data.

He also urged the government to carry out a reform of the REMITA payment system to provide matching of the account name with a number for all payments.

He said banks should be directed to ensure that account names and numbers match before completing payment.

In the area of personnel, he advised that a staff audit should be conducted especially for educational and health institutions in order to establish actual staffing and staffing needs based on the volume of work and appropriately right-size for cost efficiency.

He added that MDAs should be advised to issue financial reports on time to enable completion of annual audit and publishing of result on time, noting that sanctions should be introduced for inordinate delays.

He said ‘the infractions established to constitute the risks and building blocks for the inefficient public expenditure and pervasive corruption that bedevil our public finance.

‘The continuity of these infractions challenges our professed political will to deal with impunity characterised by the disobedience of laws and regulations.

‘This is an existential threat to the nation and it has already negatively impacted stability and development because funds appropriated for major infrastructure and development projects are simply diverted or mismanaged the same way thus diminishing the hope of the people and the plans and programs of government.

‘It starts with those of us in this room. This impunity cannot continue ad-infinitum. Nigeria cannot and will not survive it.

‘We are at a turning point with a global pandemic whose end is uncertain, reduced public revenue but escalating citizen expectation, youth restiveness, insecurity and lack of or decaying critical infrastructure.

‘In all of this government is striving to put money in the right place for the benefit of the people.’

Tags: budget fraudcorruptionICPCinvestigationsministries department and agencies
David

David

Sun News Online team

Related Posts

Unemployment: We’re poised to create more jobs, mentor entrepreneurs — Faniro-Dada, Endeavour CEO
National

Unemployment: We’re poised to create more jobs, mentor entrepreneurs — Faniro-Dada, Endeavour CEO

27th February 2021
Amnesty programme issues fraud alert 
National

Amnesty programme issues fraud alert 

27th February 2021
Your politics of bitterness kill Edo, Afemai in Diaspora tells Obaseki
National

Benin Storm Water Project: You are peddling falsehood to mislead Edo people, Agba tells Obaseki

27th February 2021
Next Post
Farmers/herders crisis: Stop harassing Buhari, Middle-belt leaders tell Ortom

Farmers/herders crisis: Stop harassing Buhari, Middle-belt leaders tell Ortom

Cross River: UCTH, contractor continue legal battle over N100m isolation centre debt

Cross River: UCTH, contractor continue legal battle over N100m isolation centre debt

Zamfara explosion: Minister sympathises with victims' families

Zamfara explosion: Minister sympathises with victims' families

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Appointment of Ex-Service Chiefs as Ambassadors against the wish of Nigerians – Ex-Rep member

NCPC denies appointing Tonto Dikeh peace ambassador

Abiodun approves OOUTH’s renovation

Niger abduction: Parents commend Gov’t over victims’ release

LASU governing council shortlists 9 professors for VC position

FG finally reopens Third Mainland Bridge to regular traffic

Trending

Unemployment: We’re poised to create more jobs, mentor entrepreneurs — Faniro-Dada, Endeavour CEO
National

Unemployment: We’re poised to create more jobs, mentor entrepreneurs — Faniro-Dada, Endeavour CEO

27th February 2021
0

From Okwe Obi, Abuja The newly-appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor Nigeria, Tosin Faniro-Dada,...

Amnesty programme issues fraud alert 

Amnesty programme issues fraud alert 

27th February 2021
Your politics of bitterness kill Edo, Afemai in Diaspora tells Obaseki

Benin Storm Water Project: You are peddling falsehood to mislead Edo people, Agba tells Obaseki

27th February 2021
Appointment of Ex-Service Chiefs as Ambassadors against the wish of Nigerians – Ex-Rep member

Appointment of Ex-Service Chiefs as Ambassadors against the wish of Nigerians – Ex-Rep member

27th February 2021
NCPC denies appointing Tonto Dikeh peace ambassador

NCPC denies appointing Tonto Dikeh peace ambassador

27th February 2021

Follow us on social media:

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist