The Nigeria Police Force spent over N3 billion on controversial contracts and unexecuted projects in 2019, an audit report has revealed.
About one-third of the money was paid for 10 contracts awarded to three firms owned by the same person, without proper disclosure, the report stated.
These were part of the findings of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation after an audit of government ministries, departments and agencies in 2019.
The report, released in September 2021, was titled Auditor-General’s report on ‘Non-compliance/Internal Control Weakness Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Year ended December 31, 2019.’
The 490-page report was recently submitted to the clerk of the National Assembly as Nigeria’s Constitution provides.
In the report, the auditor-general said the anomalies discovered in the accounts of the Nigeria Police Force could be attributed to weaknesses in its internal control system. It could also amount to a loss of government funds and/or diversion of public funds, the report stated.
The police management, however, did not respond to all the queries and concerns raised by the auditor-general.
One person, three firms, N1.1 billion
One of the issues raised in the report is about irregularities in the award and execution of contracts for the procurement of security items for the police. The report observed that a single entity used three different companies to get ten contracts in 2019.
It said “ten contracts totalling N1.1 billion were awarded to a single proprietor in the name of different companies.
“In the companies’ profiles, the contact phone numbers and email addresses of the three companies were the same and the three companies did not disclose their relationship by the fundamental principles of procurement as required by extant regulation,” the report stated.
The audit document said this violates Section 16 (8) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 which states that “whenever it is established by a procuring entity or the Bureau that any or a combination of the situations set out exist, a bidder may have its bid or tender excluded from any particular procurement proceedings if:…(g) “the bidder fails to submit a statement regarding its dominating or subsidiary relationships concerning other parties to the proceedings and persons acting on behalf of the procuring entity participating in the same proceeding or who remains insubordinate relationship with other participants to the proceedings.”
It said the above irregularities could be attributed to “weaknesses” in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force, the principal law enforcement agency in the country.
Likewise, the inherent risks in the anomalies of the breach of the regulation, according to the report, are “award of contract to the incompetent contractor, payments for jobs not executed and diversion of public fund.”
The auditor general requested that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) “furnish” reasons why contracts were awarded to companies owned by the same persons. It further asked the IGP to “account for the sum of 1,136,715,200.00 (One billion, one hundred and thirty-six million, seven hundred and fifteen thousand, two hundred naira).”
The IGP was also required to “remit the sum of N1.1 billion to the treasury” and “forward evidence of remittance to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly,”
Otherwise, the report recommended “sanctions relating to the irregular award of contract and punishment for contravening any of the offences in the Public Procurement Act and paragraphs 3117 and 3126 of the Financial Regulations respectively.”
Payment for contracts not executed
Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations states that “on no account should payment be made for services not yet performed or for goods not yet supplied.”
The Nigeria police violated this law when it paid N924.9 million on contracts that were not executed in 2019.
According to the audit report, the amount was paid for 11 contracts involving “construction of three units of Gunshot Spotter System, supply of fifty units of Ballistic Roller Trolley and twenty units of Ballistic Mobile Surveillance House in some selected Commands and Formations.”
The final payments were made in March 2019 without evidence of execution, the auditor general said, “but documents for the completion of the projects were not presented for audit examination.”
Likewise, the items claimed to have been “constructed or supplied at the Force Headquarters, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit and Police Mobile Force (PMF) unit as specified in the award letters revealed that the contracts were not executed as at the time of physical verification of the purported items in June 2020.”
In another instance, the audit report said N613.5 million, representing 100 per cent total payment, made as advance payment, was made to two contractors before the execution of the contracts.
“Six contracts totalling N613.5 million were awarded to two contractors on 17 January 2019 for procurement of Ballistic Roller Trolley, construction of Gunshot spotter and Ballistic Mobile Surveillance House,” the report stated.
But, “there was no evidence of execution, as relevant documents such as invoice, SRV, SIV, Ledger entry, etc. were neither presented to the team nor the items found in the location indicated in the vouchers.”
This act contravened the provision of paragraph 2933 (i) of Financial Regulations which requires payment of mobilization fee not to exceed 15 per cent of the contract price. Also, the two contractors did not participate in the pre-qualification process, while tax clearance certificates were not presented for examination, the auditor general said.
The report further observed that there was a contract for the supply of 20 units of Ballistic Mobile Surveillance in Borno State at a contract sum of N249.9 billion which was beyond the approval threshold of both the Force and its supervising ministry.
Contract for supplies above N100 million requires approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the report stated.
Again these anomalies were attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force Armament and it is likely going to result in the loss of government funds and/or diversion of public funds, the report read.
The police management did not respond to the queries raised by the auditor general. Nonetheless, the IGP was mandated to furnish reasons why payments were made for contracts not executed.
The police chief was also required to recover N924.98 million and N613.5 million respectively, being paid for unexecuted contracts and remit the same to the treasury. Evidence of remittance should be forwarded to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly, the report said.
Otherwise, the auditor general recommended “sanctions relating to payments for the poor quality of work and prosecution by the EFCC prescribed by paragraphs 3105 and (iii) 104 of the Financial Regulations, respectively,”
Violation of approval threshold on procurement contract
On January 14, 2016, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation issued a directive restraining government agencies and ministries from directly approving contracts for supplies above N100 million until approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The circular was dispatched to all ministers and several other senior officials, including the head of the service, the president’s chief of staff, military chiefs, the central bank governor, and permanent secretaries, among others.
In extant violation of the law, “two contracts totalling N500.3 million were approved by the Nigeria Police Force.” The contracts of such magnitude, the audit report said “should have passed through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval,” as they were above the approval threshold of both the Nigeria Police Force Tenders Board and that of its parent ministry.
The risks in the likely breach of the regulation, according to the report, are, “misappropriation of public funds and/or diversion of public funds.”
Hence, the IGP has been requested to provide reasons why contracts that were above the approval threshold of tenders boards of both the police headquarters and that of the Ministry of Police Affairs were not forwarded to the Federal Executive Council for approval. The police will also account for the sum of N500.3 million.
Other Queries
Based on the review of the arms movement register and monthly return of arms and ammunition, the audit report noted that the total number of lost firearms as of December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces.
Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles, the report said.
It added that 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations could not be accounted for as of January 2020
The Auditor-General said this violates Paragraph 2603 of the Financial Regulations states “in the event of any loss of stores, the officer in charge of the store in which the loss occurs shall: a. Report immediately to the head of department or unit but not later than three (3) days, by the fastest means possible if the loss occurs away from headquarters. b. Report to the nearest police station if there is any suspicion of fraud or theft. Initiate action on Treasury Form 146 by completing Part 1 thereof and forward in duplicate to his head of division or unit, without delay…”
Formal reports on the loss of firearms through duly completed Treasury Form 146 (loss of stores) were not presented for examination, the report read.
Likewise, records obtained from force armament at the police headquarters showed that the 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja, did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas, the schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total number of forty-six missing arms between the year 2000 and February 2019.
The value of the lost firearms could not be ascertained because no document relating to their cost of acquisition was presented for examination, the report read.
The innate risks are “mishandling of firearms or firearms getting to the wrong hands and loss of government funds.”
It is unclear whether the police management had responded to the queries raised by the auditor general as of the time of filing this report.
Frank Mba, the spokesperson of the Nigerian police, did not respond to our correspondent calls and text messages.
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