REVEALED: How Zulum queried Borno officials over N400m ‘undocumented expenditures’

Babagana Umara Zulum, governor of Borno state, queried top government officials after they were indicted by the state’s auditor-general for not providing proper documentation to back expenditure totalling N400 million, TheCable understands.

The report covered 2020 but it was published in May 2021.

Five ministries — religious affairs, environment, home affairs and information, agriculture and housing — were indicted in the report seen by TheCable.

The 153-page report, entitled “Annual Report of the State Auditor-General on the Accounts of Borno State for the year ended 31st December, 2020”, was  published on May 31, 2021 and addressed to the Borno house of assembly.

Following the publication of the report, Zulum directed Kashim Bukar, the auditor-general, to “strictly monitor the affairs of ministries, departments, agencies and commissions in Borno State with a view to enforcing transparency”, an insider told TheCable.

Bukar, an appointee of the governor, had been encouraged by Zulum to independently carry out his functions and make his findings public without recourse to him.

In the report, the auditor-general said he was conveying his “heartfelt gratitude and that of the entire staff of the Office of the State Auditor-General to His Excellency Engr Prof. Babagana Umara Zullum mni, the Executive Governor of Borno State for his positive disposition towards the Office, without which the processing and production of this report would not have come to fruition. This will ultimately improve our efficiency and effectiveness”.

Zulum had been briefed on preliminary findings of the report and in response, he sent a bill to the house of assembly to address the issues raised.

This led to the establishment of Borno State Bureau of Public Procurement Board with the mandate of “enforcing integrity and transparency in public expenditures”.

A state government official, who declined being named, told TheCable that the governor took immediate action to prevent further breaches.

“First of all, credit should be given to Zulum for giving full independence to the auditor-general who is his appointee,” the official said.

“The report was produced and made public because Governor Zulum encouraged the audit work in order to promote transparency in public procurements.

“From 2019 to date, the Zulum administration has executed over 600 capital projects and capital-intensive programmes worth tens of billions.

“If out of all these, the auditor-general discovered that there was no proper documentation to support expenditures of N400 million, it also implies that the same auditor-general found proper documentation for tens of billions and this is quite positive.

“Of course, this does not mean that it is proper for N400 million to be spent without proper documentation. The governor was angry with the finding and he took drastic measures that I am not at liberty to reveal.

“Even before the auditor-general’s report was published, Zulum, in January 2020, established the Bureau for Public Procurement Board and mandated the board to enforce transparency in all procurements.

“As a policy, Zulum does not give approvals to any memo that is not supported with budgetary provision. The governor is strict on this.

“He actually commended the auditor-general for indicting some ministries and encouraged him to do more so that MDAs can be more productive.”

WHAT THE AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT REVEALED

The auditor-general’s report raised concerns that despite Zulum’s strictness and the introduction of procurement bureau, some officials tried to circumvent the measures in place by failing to back up expenditures with documentation.

The auditor general queried thus: “Salaries vouchers and related records are not readily available since the commencement of staff Biometric exercise in year 2016 to date, however, effort was put in for the year 2020 payroll audit where some records were provided and appreciable level of the audit was conducted which is a step forward.

“Many payment vouchers raised were lacking the necessary documentary evidence to justify the payments made. This include documents like approvals for the expenditure, receipts, Store Receipt Vouchers (SRV) for supplies or purchases which means that they are either not supplied or not taken on charge, Some vouchers were not signed by the relevant parties to the payment vouchers like signatures of the Officer controlling Vote (i.e Authorizing Officer), the payee etc.

“Most Cash Advances, which come as Impress were not retired in most of the MDAs until pressed by audit staff, Deductions made in respect of Withholding Tax (WHT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) have no supporting documents, In some cases, payment vouchers were not checked by Internal Auditors and where they do, they only stamp the vouchers after payments have been made thus defying the essence of the audit.

“The Internal Audit certification on payment vouchers and other accounting books and records examined which should best be authenticated by ‘Internal Audit Stamp’ as set out in Financial Regulation is lacking or has not been complied with by most of the Internal Auditors.

“However, the use of Green pen to tick, which is restricted to the members of the Office of the State Auditor General as far as accounting books and records are concerned as provided by Financial Regulations No.3002 has reduced. Inexperience or lukewarm attitude on the part of some accounts staff in attaching supporting documents to payment vouchers is very prevalent in most of the MDAs” the auditor general cited in the report.”

TheCable could not confirm the outcome of the queries.