The Office of Auditor General of the Federation has recommended the prosecution of some police officers by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over conversion of arms and ammunition for illegal use.
The recommendation was contained in the audit queries with Ref. No: AuGF/AR.2019/02, dated September 15, 2021.
It was signed by the Auditor General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, and sent to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Architect Amos Ojo.
It is expected to be investigated by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Account, chaired by Hon. Oluwole Oke.
According to the report, no fewer than 178,459 different types of arms and ammunition got missing from the police armoury in 2019 fiscal year, without any trace or formal report on their whereabouts.
As encapsulated in the report, 88,078 AK-47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols from different formations nationwide could not be accounted for as at January 2020.
The oAuGF report also accused authorities of Nigeria Police Force of lack of comprehensive details of unserviceable weapons, fearing that such could fall into some authorised hands for illegal use.
According to the reports: “Audit observed from the review of Arms Movement Register, Monthly Returns of Arms and Ammunition and Ammunition Register at the Armoury section that a total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces.
“Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations which could not be accounted for as at January 2020.
“Formal report on the loss of firearms through dully completed Treasury Form 146 (loss of stores) were not presented for examination.
“Records obtained from force armament at the Force headquarters showed 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas, schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total number of 46 missing arms between 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 above anomalies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force Armament.
“Several numbers of firearms from the review of Arm Issue Register, monthly returns of arms and ammunition obtained from Force Armament, Force headquarters for various States Commands, Formations, Zonal offices, Training Institutions, squadrons and physical inspection of firearms and ammunition at the Force Headquarters have become unserviceable and dysfunctional.
“Records of the total number of unserviceable firearms were not produced for examinations, and there were no returns from Adamawa State Command, Police Mobile Force (PMF) 46, 56, 64 and 68 for the period under review.
“Similarly, returns were not submitted by some Police Training Institutions and some Formations, and Physical verification of firearms and ammunition at the Force Armament, Force Headquarters showed large quantity of damaged and obsolete firearms which needed to be destroyed.
“The damaged and obsolete firearms and ammunition should be treated in line with Financial Regulations 2618 which requires the destruction to be carried out in such a manner as to render the firearms unusable for their original purpose.”
The Auditor General also queried the Police Force hierarchy for expending N3,271,439,688:30 as payment for award of contracts above approval threshold without evidence of project execution.
It added that 10 contracts worth N1,136,715,200 were awarded to a single proprietor in the name of different companies with details of the three companies as the same.
“The three companies did not disclose their relationship in accordance with the fundamental principles of procurement as required by extant regulations,” it stated.
It further said that the sum of N924.985 million was paid for 11 contracts involving construction of three units of Gunshot Spotter System, supply of 50 units of Ballistic Roller Trolley and 20 units of Ballistic Mobile Surveillance House in some selected Commands and Formations. Final payments were made in March 2019 without evidence of execution. Documents such as end user certificate, store receipt voucher (SRV), store issue voucher (SIV), job completion certificate were not presented for audit examination.
According to the report, the items claimed to have been constructed/supplied at the Force Headquarters, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command, explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) unit and (PMF unit as specified in the award letters revealed that the contracts had not been executed by the time of physical verification of the purported items in June 2020.
Consequently, the auditor-general’s office asked the police force to explain why contracts were awarded to companies owned by same persons.
The audit also revealed illegal deduction of N62.2 billion by the Nigeria Customs Service in one year.
In the report of NCS’ summary of monthly revenue collection in 2017, total collections for federation account were N691,266,115,031.44 billion.
However, the report of NCS collections and remittance into federation account in 2017 showed actual remittance into federation account with the CBN for the year under review to be N629,023,135,024.57 billion. A comparison of these two documents revealed an under remittance of N62,242,980,006.87 billion.
The audit had been presented with two separate reports, namely NCS summary of monthly revenue collection, 2017, and NCS collections and remittance into federation account, 2017.
The audit report also said the sum of N6,281,256 billion was paid for contracts/services not executed by five ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has the highest amount of N4.547 billion, while Federal Government College, Enugu, has the least amount of N3,074 million, according to the 2019 audit report that was posted on the website of the AuGF.
The report revealed that the sum of N5,166 billion was advance not retired in 23 MDAs, and House of Representatives has the highest advance not retired of N2.808 billion while NPA has the least amount of N17,000.
Meanwhile, the auditor-general’s report also indicted the Nigeria Immigration Service of retaining three officers who ought to have retired from the Service between 2010 and 2017 upon attaining the compulsory retirement age of 60 years but were still in service as the time of audit in January, 2020.
The affected officers were born in 1950, 1956 and 1957 respectively. The continued stay in service of the officers had cost government avoidable payment of salaries of N37.955 million.
In a similar vein, the sum of N2.550 billion was granted to federal lawmakers in the House of Representatives as running costs between July and December 2019. The money was shared to all the lawmakers from the six geopolitical zones.
There was no evidence to show what the funds were used for, and there were no retirement documents despite requests, the audit report said.
