Petroleum Ministry spent N116m to buy biros, toners, letterhead papers –Senate

The Senate Public Accounts Committee has discovered what it says was a monumental fraud in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

The committee said a report from the office of the Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF), revealed that the whopping sum of N116m was spent to purchase biros, toners and letterhead papers in one year.

The report which was released on Thursday, December 10, gave a breakdown of the expenditure of the Ministry, stating that N14.5m was used to purchase Schneider biros, N46m to print the Ministry’s letterhead and N56m to procure toner for its photocopy machines.

The AuGF stated this in his 2015 audit report currently being scrutinised by the Senate Committee headed by Senator Mathew Urhoghide.

The AuGF report reads:

“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.

“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.”

Read also: President Buhari, Sylva and the Petroleum Ministry

Urhoghide who expressed his shock at the revelation, asked the representative of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Godwin Akubo, to respond to the query by the AuGF.

The Ministry, in its response, 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.

“The contracts were not split. They were awarded to the various contractors at different times when the 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 items produced for most of the departments.”

However, displeased with the defence of the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Urhoghide asked the Committee to document the money spent and ask for the refund from the officers involved in the Ministry.

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