The upper legislative chamber, the Senate, has revealed how government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) mismanaged Service Wide Votes (SWV) worth N3.8 trillion between 2017 and 2021.
This was unravelled following a report by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
According to the report, the Committee said some agencies did not make a formal request for the money sent to them by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
It was also uncovered that hundreds of billions of naira were purportedly used to cover salary deficits, despite the fact that such agencies had already collected appropriations for employee emoluments via the IPPIS network.
The Senate also determined that MDAs were failing to disclose service-wide vote transaction documentation such as payment vouchers and vote books.
The Senate committee had earlier invited 207 government agencies to appear before it for cross-examination, but only 119 replied, with the remaining 85 declining.
Among the agencies that failed to appear before the Committee for investigation were State House, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria Defence Academy, the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.
The Committee’s report reads: “This is the first time a search light has been beamed on the SWV and its operations.
“There was a steady rise in the disbursements from the Service Wide Vote, from 887,008,900,486.00 in 2017 to over N1.93 trillion in 2021. Some of the MDAs did not make formal requests for the money that was sent to them by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“Even where the approval of Mr. President was sought and obtained, some MDAs used the resources for unrelated expenditure purposes.
“Sometimes approvals were wrongly obtained from sources other than Mr. President, such as these from the Minister of Finance. Some MDAs collected the funds for projects that were already budgeted for in the Appropriation Acts over the years.
“Hundreds of billions of naira were claimed to have been used for the purposes of paying salary shortfalls, whereas such agencies had already collected appropriation for personnel emoluments and were on the IPPIS platform”.
The committee therefore recommended “that the SWV supplementary releases be limited to recurrent emergencies or shortfalls genuinely desired with satisfactory proof.
”Where capital supplementation must be made from the SWV, only the personal authorization of Mr. President as the approving authority shall suffice.”
“That MDAs must strictly ensure that funds received from SWV are applied to the specific purpose of request and release.
“Going forward, the Auditor-General for the Federation should be given full access by the OAGF and other MDAs to audit Service Wide Vote expenditures annually and report to the National Assembly, either as part of the annual report or as a special report.”
“That the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Cash Management Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, should rejig their record-keeping procedures to enhance the efficient operations of the Federal Treasury House/FMF.
“That the Senate carries out an in-depth legislative investigation into the operations of IPPIS to stem the rising cases of irregularities in the system.
“The Senate Public Accounts Committee should henceforth make it a point of duty to undertake in-depth scrutiny of the disbursements from the Service Wide Vote between January 1 and December 31, 2022, as part of the overall scrutiny of the annual budget of the Federal Government.
“That the Executive should be advised to use a supplementary budget approach to meet emergencies or shortfalls rather than the current Service Wide Vote mechanism, which amounts to an affront or erosion of the approval powers of the National Assembly.
“This is the very first time the financial activities of the Federal Government relating to disbursement from the Service Wide Votes have been brought under scrutiny (another credit to the 9th Senate), and you have seen the plethora of abuses and irregularities observed. Our inquiry has clearly brought to the fore the urgent need for in-depth scrutiny of this vote from now on.
“Consequently, the Committee prays the Senate to approve and adopt the above recommendations and communicate the same to the Executive for implementation, towards achieving improved effectiveness, efficiency, and economy in the use and management of public funds.”
Based on the submissions of the committee headed by the Chairman, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, representing Edo South Senatorial District, the Senate resolved that the executive branch of government should employ the supplementary budget strategy to handle shortages rather than the current Service Wide Vote mechanism, which amounts to an insult to the democratic process and approving powers of the Senate.
The Senate also requested an in-depth probe of IPPIS operations in order to address escalating instances of systemic irregularities.
