The Senate Public Accounts Committee has upheld a 2015 query raised against the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) overpayment of N8.6 million for un-executed contract.
The panel upheld the query of the Auditor General of the Federation against NIMASA after the agency failed to appear before the committee after a series of invitations without response.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said since the agency had failed to appear, the committee had no other option than to sustain the query of the auditor-general on the agency.
The 2015 Auditor-General’s report said the sum of N8.6 million was paid to a contractor for store organization audit and inventory management system, but a physical audit verification of the store showed that the job was not carried out as assets worth billions of naira could not be effectively located and accounted for, contrary to the purpose of the contract.
It listed some of the equipment, items procured which could not be assessed in the store documentation and inventory to include: cooking equipment at the agency’s headquarters canteen worth N34.2 million; N80.5 million-worth soundproof caterpillar generator at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Abuja and record for procurement of high technology data for information MSI Portal, which cost N109.6 million.
Others are records of N36.3 million for generator house/fence of office building at Lokoja; N43.5 million for hardware equipment to Nigerian Maritime Guard Command, Lagos; N91.1 million for 1500 KVA generator; N17 million for the establishment of Nautical Chart Depot and Digital Weather Maps/Chart; N145 million for caver boat; N430 for medical boat; N563.5 million for patrol boats and N44.2 million for operational vehicles.
The report said: “The Director-General has been requested to take procedural disciplinary measures against all officers responsible for approval and payment for job not executed, furnishing evidence for verification.
“Recover and refund to treasury, the sum of N8.6 million being irregular payment, furnishing recovery particulars for verification.”
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