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The National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli-Ulcer Control Programme in Abuja closes the Auditor-General for the Federation’s entire 2020 report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses with the single largest set of unresolved figures in the University Teaching Hospitals and Allied Institutions section.
Approximately ₦4.09 billion was flagged across nine issues spanning 2017 to 2020, a period when the programme was headed by National Coordinator Dr. Adebola Lawanson. Lawanson, who featured publicly as National Coordinator in 2019 and 2020 before retiring in January 2021, oversaw a donor-heavy operation that relies heavily on Global Fund and other international partner resources to combat three major public-health threats.
The most striking finding involves donor grants. Between 2017 and May 2020 the programme received ₦5.20 billion in grants, yet only ₦3.66 billion appeared in its own records, leaving ₦1.54 billion completely undisclosed. The absence of proper accounting violates Financial Regulations 715, 730(ii) and 415, which require full disclosure and documentation of public and donor funds. No management response was provided. Auditors recommended recovery of the full undisclosed sum under Regulations 3112 and 3129.
Large volumes of money spent on implementation and procurement fared no better. Advances and direct payments to states for State-Based Implementation programmes between January 2019 and 2020 totalled ₦1.15 billion, yet no documentary evidence substantiated any of the expenditure, contrary to Regulations 1405, 1420(i) and 415.
A further ₦115.43 million released to the Office of the National Coordinator for administrative purposes in 2019 similarly lacked supporting records. Procurement of health products in 2019 alone absorbed ₦2.23 billion (including a Global Fund top-up), while another ₦514.64 million was spent on “procurement and supply chain” activities and ₦69.81 million on unspecified non-health products.
In each case no breakdown of what was actually acquired was produced for audit, placing the transactions in conflict with Section 85(2) of the 1999 Constitution and Financial Regulations 601 and 708. Extra-budgetary spending of ₦36.06 million in 2019, against an approved budget of only ₦15.36 million, breached Section 80(4) of the Constitution and Regulation 417.
Additional findings included ₦97.07 million in irregular staff reimbursements in 2017 and ₦5.49 million in unremitted withholding tax and PAYE.
Across every query management remained silent. The Auditor-General’s consistent recommendation was the same: account for the funds, recover them where necessary, and remit to the Treasury, or face the sanctions prescribed by the Financial Regulations.
For a national programme charged with controlling diseases that still claim tens of thousands of Nigerian lives each year, the scale of unaccounted donor money and undocumented procurement raises fundamental questions about stewardship of both public and international resources. The constitutional and regulatory framework governing public expenditure exists precisely to prevent such opacity; the final chapter of the 2020 report shows how far short that framework was observed in this instance.
Source: …Secretsreporters