The Akwa Ibom state government has rendered an apology for typographical and printing errors in it’s 2019 annual account that suggested that it made fraudulent extra budgetary expenditure running into multi billions of naira in the 2019 budget.
The government was reacting to an investigative report supported by John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting that highlighted extra budgetary expenditures in the running of the Government House, Office of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, maintenance of the Governor’s Aircraft, Pilgrims Board and Special Services.
The report, conducted by two Uyo based journalists was published in several online media and local newspapers in the State.
According to the report, top government officials were engaged in acts of corruption even as government incurred over N10Billion on aircraft maintenance, purchase of cars, special projects and governor’s hospitality among others.
But the government said that the findings arrived at and published in the report was based on an unauthentic source.
Commissioner for information and strategy, Comrade Iniobong Ememobong told a press conference yesterday in Uyo that there were errors in the first annual account report which the Foundation sponsored report based its investigation.
The first annual report Ememobong clarified was withdrawn after the errors were discovered through a memo from the office of the Accountant General in September.
”The authentic version which was sent to the legislature and the Auditor General were inputed on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) platform, and agrees with the details supplied.
”As a government, we take financial reporting very seriously and have consistently complied with the IPSAS requirement, though generally acknowledged as cumbersome, due to its uncommon coding system.” The commmissioner explained.
According to the media report, the Accountant General report revealed that the office of the SSG purchased 15 new Toyota Prado Jeeps (TXL) for the sum of N4.864 billion while the approved budget for that item was N738 million, an extra N4.126 billion was posted for the purchase of the cars.
“The figures in the financial report, imply that the unit cost for one Toyota Prado Jeep (TXL) is more than N324 million. But a market price survey conducted in October 2020 by our reporters showed that the current unit price of the car is N34 million.
“Cheki cars, a reputable car company in Lagos, said 15 new Toyota Prado Jeep (TXL) would be sold for N510 million only, which is N228 million less than the original amount budgeted for the vehicles.Even with a mark up of 20 per cent profit for the supplier of the vehicles, they should not have cost more than N612 million.
The report also indicated that while the House of Assembly approved N2.5 billion for maintenance of the Governor’s aircraft, the SSG’s office spent N5.04 billion the aircraft, a Bombardier Global 5000, which is used exclusively by the governor and the first family.
“According to Liberty Jet, a New York based airline operator, the annual cost of flying and maintaining a Bombardier Global 5000 for 400 hours a year is approximately $2,272,015, that is N693.88 million, at the exchange rate of N305/$1 in 2019.”
The report also said that while N1.3 billion was approved for “fuel and lubricants” for Government House, N2.70 billion was spent on these two items at the end of the fiscal year.
“This expenditure on fuel and lubricants was also 42 times the cost of what the state government spent on capital projects for the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2019, which was N49.25 million.
“Our findings revealed that the Akwa Ibom State Government House fuel dump managed by Mr Udo Ekwere, receives and uses five trucks of 45,000 litres of fuel (Premium Motor Spirit) every two months and 10 trucks of 45,000 litres of diesel (Automative Gas Oil) for the same period.
“Five trucks of PMS amount to 225,000 litres, meaning that 1,350,000 litres would be bought for the year. PMS was sold at N145 per litres in 2019. Thus, 1,350,000 litres would be bought at the cost of N195,750,000.
“For diesel (Automative Gas Oil), 10 trucks of 45,000 litres amount to 450, 000; and 2,700,000 litres would be bought for the year. The average pump price for diesel in 2019 was N220 per litres. Thus, in a year, the projected cost of 2,700,000 litres of Automative Gas Oil will be N594 million.Hence the total cost of PMS and diesel utilised for one year should amount to N689,750,000.”
The report further alleged that while the sum of N3.6 billion was approved in the 2019 budget for “government special development projects”, N4.49 million was spent on this item while N1.18 billion was spent on governor’s hospitality and traditional gifts as against the N800 million approved for that purpose.
Also, the State’s Pilgrims Welfare Board spent N120 million on the production of “security encoded ID cards” for intending pilgrims against an approved budget N9 million according to the report.
