A Senate Committee yesterday reported that the Federal Government had misused about N1.053 trillion from the Special Funds Accounts in ten years.
The revelation was contained in the report on the status of about three such accounts investigated by the Committee on Public Accounts.
Committee chairman Sen. Ahmad Lawan presented the report to the Senate but it won’t be debated until today to enable members study the report.
But a copy of the report obtained by Daily Trust shows that Natural Resources Development Account; Derivation and Ecology Account and Stabilisation Funds Account, “were grossly abused between 2002 and 2012.”
The Natural Resources Development Account is meant to provide financial resources to develop alternative mineral resources to oil and gas, the Derivation and Ecology Account is meant to intervene in and coordinate the general ecological problems in the country; while the Stabilisation Funds Account is for unforeseen contingencies and economic downturn.
It also discovered that the Funds were practically being operated as loan granting pools which are never repaid.
“There are no regular reconciliation between the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria”, the report further stated.
Natural Resources. All the N701bn released was abused.
Under this account, the abuses are as follows: N612.2million payment of JVC contribution deducted from Akwa Ibom grant between March and May 2002; N1.3bn loan granted to Derivation Escrow Account on July 24, 2003; N50bn loan granted to finance deficit in the year 2004 fiscal budget; N3.745bn loan granted to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purchase of a Chancery in Tokyo on November 25, 2004 and December 30, 2004; N864.7m loan granted to the National Health Insurance Scheme for ID cards production on April 18, 2005; N452.2m loan granted to the Federal Government as payment to ADB for the purchase of shares on September 9, 2005; N2bn loan granted for payment to Gitto Costruzioni General Nigeria Ltd on September 19, 2005; N5.7bn granted to Ministry of Power and Steel as payment of disengagement benefits of workers on November 15, 2005; N14.988bn loan granted to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for Gurara Water Project on December 21, 2005.
Others monies also granted as loans from the natural resources development account, were N10.1bn for MDAs monetisation arrears (2006); N11bn to FAAN (2006); N20bn to Federal Ministry of Works against the 2007 appropriation for the dualisation of Abuja-Lokoja road and dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri road (2006); N15bn to Works Ministry against the 2007 appropriation for the dualisation of East-West Road (2007); N100bn for financing of 2nd quarter capital (2007); N10.1bn for arrears of monetisation of parastatals (2005 to 2007) and N70bn released to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as loan in 2010.
Derivation and Ecology. The report says of the total receipts of N389.98bn, N329.866bn was released, while N149.881bn was abused. The abuses are as follows: N200m loan to the Presidential Research and Communications Unit on November 9, 2002; N500m loan to Edo State Government on November 17, 2002; N800m released for resurfacing of runway in Aminu Kano International Airport through SGF Ecological Fund Account (2003); N10m released for building an abattoir in Bida, Niger State (2003); another N500m loan to Edo State Government in 2003; N150m to Nigerian Railway Corporation for Iju-Ijoko rail dualisation project (2003); N200m to Works Ministry for upgrading of Lagos-Ibadan expressway and Lagos-Sagamu section to six lanes carriageway (2004); N500m to Works Ministry for the construction of 4 new bridges along Argungu-Bwi road and the completion of Sokoto River Bridge at Argungu in Kebbi State (2005); N7.76bn to the Nigerian Air Force for some projects; N1.98bn to Works Ministry for the construction of new bridge at Idundun, Cross River State (2006); N146m to Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (2006); N1bn to Ogun State Government for the construction of Badagry-Igboho road (2007); N750m for the development of Abuja Downtown Mall (2007); N6bn for FCDA for the provision of engineering infrastructure to Kubwa-Karshi satellite towns (2007); N1.995bn to Katsina State Government as 50 percent FG’s contribution to the upgrading of Katsina Airport (2007) and N10.9bn to the Consolidated Revenue Fund for funding the 2009 Appropriation Act as revenue source.
Stabilisation funds. The report indicates that of the total receipts of N255.487bn, N191.780bn was abused within the period under review. The abuses are as follows: N16.262bn loan granted to the Directorate of Pilgrims Affairs (2003, 2004 and 2005); N10.845m payment to Transvari Services Ltd for the Nigerian Laws on Public Finance (2004); N1.420bn released to the Nigeria Customs Service as cost of revenue collection on July 7, 2005; N1.08bn released to the FIRS on July 7, 2005; N10bn loan to CRF account (2005); N12bn loan granted to Ghana & Sao Tome &Principle (2004 and 2007); N142m released to Gong Publishing Company as loan of debt owed by local government councils (2005); various loans totaling N309.2m granted to the Inspector-General of Police for the purchase of vehicles for the UN Peace Keeping Operations in Haiti (2006); N2.8bn loan granted to pay FG’s contribution to phase 1 of the Pioneer Finance Scheme for public servants in paramilitary agencies (2007); N87.72bn released to INEC to commence the conduct of fresh voters registration exercise on September 1 and 15 and October 13, 2010; N34.949bn loan to Akwa Ibom and Delta States during the implementation of 10 percent derivation indices to oil producing states on March 11, 2010 and N5bn released to the Ministry of Aviation, the National Identity Management Commission and the National Judicial Council as approved by the coordinating minister for economy and minister of finance on September 12, 2011.
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