ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC Chairman.

Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC Chairman.

ICPC uncovers N20 billion project duplication, personnel budget fraud in MDAs – Owasanoye

ICPC says its projects tracking reveals that skyrocketing personnel budgets in some MDAs are due to massive budgetary scam, including illegal recruitment, unilateral increase in wages, indiscriminate travels, among others.

byKunle Sanni
November 30, 2021
3 min read

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) says it has uncovered gross abuse of personnel budget as well as duplication of projects by some federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) amounting to over N20.138 billion.

The duplication and padding occurred in the implementation of the 2021 budget and involved about 257 projects, the anti-corruption agency said its review shows.

The anti-graft agency said it is investigating the Ministry of Labour and the University College Hospital Ibadan as well as corrupt staff members in other MDAs suspected of massive illegal recruitment.

ICPC chairperson, Bolaji Owasanoye, made the disclosure in his welcome address at the 3rd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Service and Presentation of Public Service Integrity Award on Tuesday.

Themed, ‘Corruption and the Cost of Governance: New Imperatives for Fiscal Transparency’, the event was held at the State House Conference Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Many dignitaries including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were in attendance.

In his address, Mr Owasanoye said ICPC, through its projects tracking, found out that skyrocketing personnel in many MDAs was attributable to massive budgetary scam, including illegal recruitment, unilateral increase in wages, indiscriminate travels, among others.

“The high cost of governance and rising personnel budget in Nigeria is as a result of illegal recruitment, illegal and unilateral increase in wages and remuneration by some MDAs, indiscriminate local and international travels, unreasonable demands by some political appointee board members of MDAs without regard for extant circulars on cost management; procurement fraud, budget padding, etc,” he said.

“This has continued to reflect in the huge wage bill on personnel and operational cost standing at about 70 per cent of annual budget”.

According to Mr Owasanoye, the “malfeasance” the anti-graft agency uncovered in the recruitment process by some MDAs including the labour ministry is perpetrated with the connivance of some staff members of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). He noted the cases and officials involved were under investigation.

“At another level, a syndicate of corrupt individuals within the service corruptly employ unsuspecting Nigerians, issue them fake letters of employment, fraudulently enrolling them on IPPIS and post them to equally unsuspecting MDAs to commence work. ICPC is prosecuting one of the leaders of the syndicate from whose custody we retrieved several fake letters of recommendation purportedly signed by Chief of Staff to the President, Hon Ministers, Federal Civil Service Commission and other high ranking Nigerians,” he noted.

Project tracking

He gave a breakdown of the projects being tracked nationwide by the ICPC.

“The third phase of ICPC’s projects tracking covered 1,083 projects across the entire country with exception of Borno and Zamfara due to security challenges. The exercise verified the implementation of executive and zip projects of legislators.

“We have so far initiated enforcement actions against 67 contractors and forced them back to the site and ensured completion of 966 projects worth N310b some of which were hitherto abandoned”, he explained.

“Our findings indicate that the same malady of corruption afflicts executive as well as zip projects thus undermining government projections, escalating the cost of governance and denying Nigeria value for money.

“These maladies include poor needs assessment that disconnects projects from beneficiaries; false certification of uncompleted contracts as completed, deliberate underperformance of contracts incessant criminal diversion and conversion of public property by civil servants, to name just a few.”

The ICPC boss said some MDAs had mini-civil wars going on between their boards and managements and sometimes within the board. “These squabbles revolve around abuse of power prohibited by ICPC Act and unreasonable demands by some Board members for privileges contrary to extant circulars and laws and government’s resolve to minimize the cost of governance.”

He added, “ICPC’s Ethics Compliance Scorecard of MDAs report for 2021 shows that only 34.6 per cent of the 360 MDAs assessed scored above average in Management Culture and Structure. This poor finding is not unrelated to unstable Boards unable to effectively oversight the institutions.”

The official commended the government’s stance against illicit financial flows.

‘Government worried over spending on travels’

Also speaking at the event, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Mustapha, said the government was highly worried that about 60 per cent of the federal government’s overhead expenditure in three years (2012 to 2014) was spent on travels, maintenance, local and international training, welfare, office stationery/consumables, honoraria, among others.

“Recent data from the Budget Office indicates that “actual MDAs recurrent spending is still on the rise, from N3.61 trillion in 2015 to N5.26 trillion in 2018 and N7.91 trillion in 2020”, he said.

READ ALSO: ICPC begins tracking of N4.5bn projects in Yobe 

The SGF noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had put mechanisms in place to ensure that “our little resources will no longer be budgeted and/or used for frivolities, hidden in fake projects, unnecessary travel, wasteful overhead costs, meaningless capital projects and remuneration of ghost workers.”

“We also remain focused on getting back our resources that have found their ways into the private pockets of those who fraudulently orchestrate the budget process for their selfish desires”, he said.

Mr Mustapha commended the ICPC for its effort in uncovering massive corruption and abuse of budgetary allocations by some staff of public institutions across the nation.

He thanked the ICPC for its foresight in “introducing and consistently convening the National Anti-Corruption Summit since 2019.”

“It is increasingly becoming public knowledge that our anti-corruption agencies, especially ICPC, are doing a lot in the area of prevention and also recovery of diverted or stolen public funds, building the capacity of MDAs to resist corrupt practices, promoting ethical values through the National Ethics and Integrity Policy of government.

“Some of the capacity building measures include System Study and Review of operations of MDAs; Corruption Risk Assessment and the establishment of Anti-corruption Monitoring Units in all MDAs.

“Recoveries of public funds in recent years have no doubt demonstrated the strong resolve government to stem financial haemorrhages and promote initiatives towards curbing illicit financial flows”, he noted.

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023

CITIZEN-FM AD


Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: Why women cheat: what every Nigerian man should know







PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Buhari honours three Nigerians for integrity, vows to sanction corrupt public servants

Next Post

Reprisal Killings: Sokoto government bans vigilante groups

Kunle Sanni

Kunle Sanni

More News

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus at the coronavirus press conference in Geneva

WHA75: Don’t use health issues to settle political scores, WHO warns world leaders

May 26, 2022
The president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina

Africa needs annual investment of $40 billion on energy for electricity – AfDB

May 26, 2022
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.

2023 Akwa Ibom APC Governorship Primary: Factions fight for control of voting materials

May 26, 2022
NGX trading floor

Nigerian stocks add N331 billion as investors chase big-cap equities

May 26, 2022
Abba Kyari, suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police and his co-defendants, arrive the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, ahead of the arraignment for alleged crimes.

My life in danger in prison, Abba Kyari tells court

May 26, 2022
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State

UPDATED: Sanwo-Olu wins Lagos APC guber ticket

May 26, 2022
Next Post
Sokoto state on map

Reprisal Killings: Sokoto government bans vigilante groups

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu [PHOTO CREDIT: @jidesanwoolu]

Lagos #EndSARS report reopened deep wound -Sanwo-Olu

Leave Comment

Search

AUN-PT Ad





Transport-Technology


Stanbic Ad


Access Bank Ad





Glo Ad


Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,848,125 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • #PandoraPapers
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Opinion
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.