Auditor-general: Petroleum ministry spent N14.5m on pen, N46m to print letterhead

The office of the auditor general of the federation (AuGF) says officials of the federal ministry of petroleum resources spent N14.5 million on the purchase of schneider pen, N46m to print the ministry’s letterhead and N56m on toner for its photocopy machines.

This was contained in the 2015 audit report submitted on Thursday by the AuGF to the senate public accounts committee.

In the report a total of N116 million was spent to procure stationery in one year.

The report is currently under scrutiny by the senate committee, led by Mathew Urhoghide, senator representing Edo south.

“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 AuGF wrote in a query.

“Similarly, the contract for the printing of the ministry’s letterhead worth N46m was also split and awarded to 11 different contractors.

“Also, the contract for the supply of toners worth N56m was split and awarded to seven different contractors. The permanent secretary has been requested to explain this contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2007.”

Responding to the query, Godwin Akubo, representative of the petroleum ministry, said: “The action of the ministry was a quick response to the needs of the various departments in the ministry of petroleum resources.”

“These awards followed normal rules and procedures,” he insisted.

“The contracts were not split. They were awarded to the various contractors at different times when items were needed.

“The sum of N46.6m used for printing of letterhead followed due process and the large sum of money is explained by the volume of the produced for most of the departments.”

The query was however sustained as the senate committee chairman was discontented with the explanations given by the permanent secretary of the ministry.

He asked the committee secretariat to document the money spent and ask for the refund from the officers involved in the ministry.