THE audited financial statements of Akwa Ibom State in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 have revealed questionable spending by the Governor’s Office.

 Scrutiny of the reports from the office of the state's accountant-general,  Pastor Uwem Andrew Essien, for four years showed that an item under the budget for the Governor's Office tagged "Government Special Development Project" has been a conduit pipe for siphoning public funds by corrupt officials. 

Although public funds have been voted and retired through this subhead, no known project on the ground show evidence and value for the billions of naira reported to have been spent. 

Billions spent on ghost projects.

In 2015, ₦2.708b was spent on project unknown to anyone, including those in government. In 2016, ₦1.842b was allegedly spent on the same item. Although this newspaper could not access the financial statement for the 2017 fiscal year, findings showed that ₦3 billion was budgeted for the item. In 2018, the ₦3b, which was the approved budget, was spent. In 2019, there was 100 per cent project implementation, as the entire ₦3.06 billion appropriated for the project was expended. With the exclusion of the financial statement for 2017, the project gulped the sum of ₦10.61 billion in four years (2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019). 

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Efforts to know how much was expended on the project in 2017 through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) application to the Office of the Governor, Commissioner for Finance, and Accountant General were unsuccessful as they all did not respond. However, a source in the Government House who cannot be named due to safety concerns said the exact amount appropriated in 2017 for the project was retired at the end of the fiscal year. However, if the state government spent N3b on the item in 2017, it implies that between 2015 and 2019, ₦13.61 billion was expended on the project.

Akwa Ibom State Government fails to present evidence of project spending.

Surprisingly, the Office of the Governor, Accountant General and finance ministry could not explain and provide evidence on how the money for the project was spent. The FOI request, which was ignored, specifically asked for detailed information and documents on titles and locations of the project called "government special development project", the list of bidders for the project, the contractors' names, and approval letters for the project contracts.

The project was captured in the state’s Appropriation Act under the governor’s office budget, with the Accountant General disbursing the required funds under the supervision of the finance ministry. The accountant general is responsible for safekeeping account books and ensures internal control procedures are maintained to safeguard the assets, detect and prevent fraud and other irregularities. A follow-up reminder sent to these offices at the expiration of seven working days provided for in the FOI Act was ignored to date. 

The failure of the governor’s office, accountant general and finance ministry to respond to the FOI request is a familiar behaviour of public institution in Akwa Ibom State. The governor’s office and the finance ministry, especially, are notorious for ignoring FOI requests.

This trend caused the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council, to issue a communiqué on September 30, 2020, calling on the state government to stop disregarding FOI requests. The communiqué noted: "Congress notes the consistent refusal of MDAs in Akwa Ibom State to provide certain information requested by journalists, thereby flouting the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, and called on the MDAs to do the needful to avoid a resort to legal action to get the required information".

Meanwhile, sources within the government who craved anonymity disclosed that the funds for the project have, over the years, been diverted. The source claims that the state government has chosen to use hazy description for this item to bleed state funds without raising suspicions.

More so, checks into state government executed project booklets show no project executed in the state under such budget line item. This newspaper went further to find out why the spurious item found its way into the budget. When the Mail Newspaper contacted the Head of Budget Office, Mr. Otu Asuquo, whose office is tasked with preparing, coordinating, monitoring and facilitating the execution of the state’s budget policies, he declined to comment. 

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-akwa-ibom-state-government-spent-n10-billion-on-ghost-project/

False tales from a unknown blog
You should have made it 50bn na
Ghost ko disappear ni