How Presidential Amnesty Paid Over N6bn Without Due Process, Tuition For Ghost Students  — AuG

In its most recent report, the Federation’s Auditor General found payments of more than N6 billion as tuition fees for non-existent students under the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP), as well as payments to various universities under the name of the PAP.

The findings, disclosed in the Auditor-General’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses, highlight government funds ‘ waste and public funds ‘ diversion between 2020 and 2021.

According to the report, the breakdown of the N6 billion revealed that the paid vouchers were paid for tuition without any relevant supporting documentation.

Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations, 2009 states that “On no account should payment be made for services not yet performed or for goods not yet supplied”.

Furthermore, paragraph 603 (i) of the FR 2009 states “All vouchers shall contain full particulars of each service. Such as dates, numbers, quantities, distances and rates, so as to enable them to be checked without reference to any other documents and will invariably be supported by relevant documents such as local purchases, orders, special letters of authority, time sheets etc”.

However, the audit observed widespread breaches of these provisions.

“The sum of N1.529, 669, 500 were paid to various universities as tuition fees for students under PAP and relevant supporting documents such as receipts, evidence of payments, admission letter, etc were not attached to the paid vouchers”, the report wrote in part.

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The PAP Abuja’s international control system, which the report claimed had reached out to the PAP’s management, but received no response, was to blame for the anomalies.

A total of N3.62 billion was raised without an internal audit check, according to the report.

It claimed that the PAP authorities failed to provide a justification for non-compliance with the terms of the current internal audit laws, leading to the loss of public funds and unapproved payments.

The PAP management did not respond to the AuG, which it claimed also did.

The sum of N1.3bn was also approved, paid and entered into the cash book without raising paid vouchers.

A further examination of the report revealed that over the N200 000 grant of cash advances to program officers for the procurement of goods and services was also found.

According to the report, “some officers were given multiple advances without providing any evidence that they had previously retired,” in contrast to the rules in place.

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The report claimed that there was no evidence to support the claim that the items were taken on store ledger charges despite the fact that the sum of N87.7m was also paid for the purchase of a number of store items.

“Since the management failed to respond to the issue raised, the findings remain valid until the management implements the recommendations”, the AuG wrote in its evaluation.

It was suggested that the PAP’s interim administration be asked to explain to the National Assembly why it paid in this manner without supporting documentation, recover and remit the mismanaged funds to the Treasury, and provide evidence of remittance to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees.

Source: Channels TV