NATIONAL: Probe how N116m was spent on biros, letterhead, SERAP tells Buhari

SOCIO- ECONOMIC Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Buhari and Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources to use their leadership positions “to urgently probe how N116 million was spent by your Ministry to buy biros, letterhead and toners in 2015, and to disclose the amount spent on the same items between 2016 and 2020, and if there is evidence of misuse of public funds, refer the matter to appropriate anti-corruption agencies for prosecution.”

The request was made following a 2015 report from Ministry of Petroleum resources made available to the Senate on Friday by the Auditor General of the Federation.

The report detailed how the ministry spent N116m on stationery.

This request was made in a statement titled, “SERAP asks Buhari, Sylva to explain how petroleum ministry spent N116m on pens, others’ issued by SERAP deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare.

The letter copied to Abubakar Malami, SAN, read in part: “Any allegations of misuse of public funds may constitute serious misconduct that impairs the efficiency of your Ministry, and undermines public confidence in the ability of ministries, departments and agencies [MDAs] to provide essential public goods and services to Nigerians.”

“SERAP is concerned that the allegations by the Office of the Auditor-General raises serious violations of anti-corruption legislation, the Nigerian Constitution, and international anti-corruption standards.”

“Public officials and MDAs should act and take decisions on the spending of public funds in an open, transparent, and accountable manner, and submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.”

“A democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment.”

“We would therefore be grateful if you would indicate the measures being taken to probe the spending of N116m on biros, letterhead, and toners in 2015, and disclose the total amount spent on the same items between 2016 and 2020 within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.”

“The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources has a legal obligation to conduct an effective investigation into any allegations of breach of anti-corruption legislation and international standards, including those relating to the spending by the Ministry on biros, letterhead, and toners between 2015 and 2020.”

“Our requests are consistent with the government’s repeated promise of transparency, and in keeping with the requirements of the Nigerian Constitution, national anti-corruption legislation, Freedom of Information Act, and Nigeria’s international obligations, including under the UN Convention against Corruption, and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.”

“An effective and efficient ministry ought to keep careful track of how it spends public money, and put in place a system to eliminate corruption, mismanagement, unnecessary, inefficient, or unreasonable expenditures.”

“According to our information, the 2015 report of the Auditor General for the Federation shows that officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources spent N116m to buy biros, letterhead, and toners in one year.”

“The breakdown of the expenditure showed that the ministry spent N14.5m to purchase Schneider biros, N46m to print the ministry’s letterhead, and N56m to procure toner for its photocopy machines.”

“According to the Office of the Auditor-General, ‘the contract for the supply of Schneider biros worth N14.5m was split into smaller packages of less than N5m each and was awarded to four different companies in order to circumvent the permanent secretary’s approval threshold of N5m.’”

“The contract for the printing of the ministry’s letterhead worth N46m was also split and awarded to 11 different contractors. The contract for the supply of toners worth N56m was split and awarded to seven different contractors.’”

“The Office of the Auditor-General has also reportedly told the Senate Public Accounts Committee that the permanent secretary has failed and/or refused to “explain this contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2007.”

The organisation threatened to sue the government and particularly the ministry of petroleum resources if not action is taken to get to the roots of the matter.

“If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps being taken in this direction, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your Ministry to implement these recommendations in the interest of transparency and accountability.” the letter added.