Petroleum Ministry’s N116m expenditure on stationery

EVEN with their general disensitization arising from the serial stories of sleaze over the years, Nigerians must have been left stunned with the recent revelation by the Office of Auditor-General (AuGF) on the spending habits of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. According to the Auditor-General, the ministry expended N116 million on the supply of pens, letterheads and toners in a financial year. The findings were contained in the 2015 audit report presented to the Senate Committee on Public Account by the AuGF on Thursday, December 10. A rundown of the expenditure showed the disbursement of N14.5 million for the supply of Schneider biros, N46 million for letterheads and N56 million for toners.

The AuGF, who alleged “contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2017 by the Permanent Secretary,” said: “The contract for the supply of Schneider biros worth N14.5 million was split into smaller packages of less than N5 million each was awarded to four different company in order to circumvent the permanent secretary’s approval threshold of N5 million. Similarly, the contract for the printing of the ministry’s letter head worth N46 million was also split and awarded to 11 different contractors. Also, the contract for the supply of toners worth N56 million was split and awarded to seven different contractors. The Permanent Secretary has been requested to explain this contravention of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.”

While at the Senate session several senators expressed outrage at the expenditure, the representative of the ministry, Godwin Akubo, a Permanent Secretary, rose in stout defence of the expenditure, insisting that the ministry had breached no law. According to Akubo,“The action of the ministry was a quick response to needs of the various department in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. These awards followed normal rules and procedures. The contract were not split. They were awarded to the various contractors at different times when items were needed. The sum of N46.6 million used for the printing of letterhead papers followed due process and the large sum of money is explained by the volume of the letterhead papers produced for most of the departments.”

It is indeed galling that corruption continues to thrive in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government despite the anti-graft rhetoric of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. For decades, the MDAs have been used as fronts for the outright embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds with terrible consequences for the long-suffering populace, and the situation remains the same till date. In particular, crude oil and everything associated with it typically reeks of callous disregard for ethics and decency. In a very significant sense, the petroleum industry and its governance apparatuses have constituted a grievous affliction to the nation. Officials play ping pong with public funds without any fear of retribution precisely because there is usually none.

Pray, what kind of writing and documentation would justify spending N14.5 million on Schneider pens, N46 million on letterhead papers and N56 million on toners? How many letters do the ministry’s staff write in a day and for which purposes? Were all the letters produced in the year under review exclusively written with pens, and if so, why? Are we no longer in the age of computers? If the ministry expended N14.5 million on pens alone, what then did it do with the funds budgeted for computers? And speaking of computers, just how did the ministry manage to rack up a N56 million bill on toners alone? What was its total budget in the year under review? By the way, assuming that its position that the humongous sums were actually budgeted for, how did these provisions escape legislative scrutiny?

There must be a thorough investigation of this issue. The Senate was right to have raised queries and the ministry needs to give a more plausible response than the one provided by its Permanent Secretary.  We align with the demand by the Senate and right groups, including the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), for accountability on the issue. Reacting to the issue, SERAP urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to use their leadership positions “to urgently probe how N116 million was spent to buy biros, letterheads 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.” As it noted,  “The 1999 Constitution [as amended], the UN Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption require the government to ensure that Nigeria’s resources are used effectively and efficiently, and in a manner consistent with the public interest.”

Surely, there can be no argument about the fact that  an efficient ministry ought to document how it spends public funds and put in place a system to eliminate corruption. As we have said time and again, MDAS that have misused allocations should get no new ones. The government must get to the root of this matter and ensure that the culprits get their just deserts.

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