The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has identified at least N3.62bn in financial irregularities at the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) in Abuja. The irregularities include unremitted tender fees, questionable contract payments, and expenditure without adequate supporting documents. The findings are contained in the Auditor-General's 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance, covering transactions between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023.
The largest finding involved N2.77bn generated from the sale of bid documents and tender fees, which the auditors said was not remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as required by government regulations. The report stated that there was no evidence supporting the bid-purchase transactions through Remita because relevant documents were not provided for audit. The auditors recommended that NAPTIN's director-general account to the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committees for the funds and recover and remit the amount to the Treasury.
Another N547.21m was paid for various store items in 11 transactions without evidence of delivery or Store Receipt Vouchers showing that the goods had been received and recorded in the institute's stores ledger. The auditors said the absence of the documents created a risk that payments could have been made for goods not supplied and recommended accountability and recovery. This finding has raised concerns over the institute's internal controls and management of funds.
The audit also queried N196.59m spent on three constituency projects involving transformers and solar streetlights in Ogun, Lagos, and Osun states. The projects included N59.2m for 500kVA transformers in Ogun, N38.53m for 40 solar streetlights in Epe Federal Constituency, Lagos, and N98.86m for 500kVA transformers in Ijebu Jesa, Osun. According to the report, NAPTIN failed to provide evidence that the contractors were eligible to execute the projects under the Bureau of Public Procurement's interim registration process.
The auditors further queried N29.65m in duty tour allowances, sitting allowances, and honoraria charged to a constituency project account without evidence of approval for transferring funds between budget heads. NAPTIN also under-remitted N4.12m in VAT on 21 contracts valued at N136.86m. The expected VAT was N10.26m, but only N6.14m was remitted. These findings have raised concerns over the institute's financial management and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Other findings included N24.4m in unsupported administrative charges, N10.68m for NEMSA certification and commissioning without supporting evidence, N17.34m in contingency payments made without required approvals, and N22.45m transferred for a youth and women training programme without evidence that the programme was conducted. The auditors also said NAPTIN failed to provide key financial records, including its trial balance, general ledger, and remittance statements.
The Auditor-General recommended that the director-general account for the outstanding issues before the Public Accounts Committees and submit the missing records for verification, warning of risks including revenue leakage and loss of public funds. The findings have significant implications for the institute's financial management and accountability, and it remains to be seen how the recommendations will be implemented.
Key points
- N2.77bn in unremitted tender fees was identified as the largest financial irregularity.
- The audit uncovered N547.21m in payments for store items without evidence of delivery.
- The institute's failure to provide key financial records limited audit verification and weakened accountability.
