Facts have emerged how Borno State government spent N150 million to purchase rams for the celebration of Sallah (Eid Al Adha) in 2019 .
This was revealed in state’s auditor general’s report of 2020 has revealed.
An investigation by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that not only did the Boko Haram-ravaged state spend such an amount on the purchase of rams in violation of due process and the state’s procurement law, but it could not also provide the list of beneficiaries of the rams. Many of the state’s poor residents this newspaper spoke to said they did not benefit and were not aware that such public funds were spent to buy rams.
The auditor-general flagged the spending for lacking necessary documentation and receipts.
It revealed that the contract to procure the rams was awarded by the state’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Special Education and was executed by a committee.
There was no evidence of competitive bidding for the ram contract, and neither did the state publicly announce the contract, the bidding procedure and the eventual contractors. Also, Section 18 (21) of the Borno State Procurement Act, as amended in 2021, said: “every procurement entity shall maintain both file and electronic records of all procurement proceedings made within each financial year and the procurement records shall be maintained for a period of ten years from the date of this award.”
But the curious purchase of the Sallah rams is not the first time the ministry will run afoul of the state’s procurement regulation. In fact, the auditor general’s report flagged the ministry as a recalcitrant violator.
The query about the purchase of the rams was among those flagged on various spendings undertaken by the ministry within the period under review.
“During the audit of the payment vouchers for both Capital and Overhead Cost expenditures for the year 2019, fifteen (15) payment vouchers were observed not to have been attached to the relevant supporting documents, thus resulting in querying these payment vouchers, which involve the total sum of three hundred and fifty million nine hundred and seventy-two thousand seven hundred and three naira and twenty-nine kobo (N350,972,703.29) only. At the time of writing the 2019 Annual Report, the processes for these queries were not concluded and so not included in the 2019 Annual Report.
“The attention of the accounting officer was drawn to these queries where he was requested to comment thereon, but his reply has not been received up to the time of writing this report,” Shettima Bukar, the auditor-general of the state, said in the report.
Findings by PREMIUM TIMES also revealed that the N150 million purchase of rams was not captured in the state’s 2019 budget.
Projects approved under the ministry in 2019 were: purchase of office furniture and fittings at a cost of N11 million, construction/provision of public schools at N25 million; construction/provision of cemeteries at N50 million and construction/provision of community amenities (places of worship) N1 billion.
Other budgetary provisions for the ministry are pilgrims’ welfare logistical support at the cost of N750 million and ceremonial social welfare/provision of foodstuffs at N50 million.