Nigerian Senate Directs Ministry Of Works Under Fashola To Refund N692m Mismanaged On Projects

Senator Matthew Urhoghide, who chairs the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), oversaw an investigation into the AuGF report. The committee then presented its findings to the Senate leadership.

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The Nigerian Senate has requested that the Federal Ministry of Works, which is headed by Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State, reimburse the federation account with the N692 million that was allocated for certain projects in 2018 but were not executed.

According to the 2018 report of the Federation’s Auditor General, the ministry allegedly used the funds for the purchase of vehicles, computer accessories, photocopying, and the production and airing of a special video documentary that were never actually acquired.

The report on SPAC was deliberated upon in the plenary session, and the Senate unanimously concurred with the recommendations put forth by the panel led by Senator Urhoghide.

The committee has uncovered that a contract worth N343 million was awarded without following due process for the procurement of project monitoring vehicles.

It was established that the automobiles had not been supplied as well.

The panel reported that an additional contract was issued for the procurement of vehicle spare parts, computer accessories, and photocopying machine parts, as well as for related services.

The statement also indicated that a contract worth N139 million for the design of Nigerian roads and bridges was not executed through the proper channels.

In addition, it was discovered that the sum of N210 million, which was meant for documentation purposes, had been split into two separate amounts of N130 million and N80 million. These funds were then deposited into a staff account, which goes against the Financial Regulation.

The Committee has sent a series of invitations to the Ministry of Works, requesting them to refute the claim made by the Federation’s Auditor General.

The Ministry officials ignored the invitations, which left the Committee with no other option but to uphold the position of the AuGF.

Fameman (
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