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- Group queries ₦1.4bn NiDCOM audit observations, demands financial records
From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Global Integrity Watch (GIW) has launched a nationwide accountability initiative to investigate unresolved audit queries and financial irregularities in public institutions.
The initiative, known as the New Nigeria Public Accountability Initiative (NNPAI), will focus on unresolved Auditor-General’s findings, financial non-compliance, weak internal controls and failure by government agencies to implement audit recommendations.
Spokesperson of GIW Nigeria, Comrade Tijani AbdulMumin, disclosed this in Abuja during a press briefing on the group’s latest engagement with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The development came as GIW raised fresh questions over approximately ₦1.409 billion in quantified audit observations involving NiDCOM and demanded access to the commission’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 financial records.
The group said the records were needed to establish how the issues raised by the Auditor-General were addressed.
GIW said its review of available material relating to the Auditor-General’s Report on Non-Compliance for the 2023 audit period identified audit observations amounting to about ₦1.409 billion.
It, however, stressed that the figure represented an aggregate of audit-observation amounts and was not evidence that ₦1.409 billion was stolen or misappropriated.
Among the observations, according to GIW, were ₦340.827 million relating to alleged circumvention of procurement procedures, ₦137.524 million involving alleged contract splitting and ₦165.292 million in contracts involving questioned tax-clearance documentation.
Others included ₦91.903 million involving contractors whose financial capacity was questioned and ₦356.383 million involving companies with expired prequalification documents.
The group also cited ₦6.092 million in reported contractor overpayments for which recovery was recommended; ₦209.085 million in payments for which adequate evidence of execution was reportedly not produced; ₦16.434 million in reported tax under-deductions; and ₦15.6 million identified in the audit material as misapplication of funds.
It further listed ₦48.905 million involving payments allegedly made to officers other than named beneficiaries and ₦20.548 million in cash advances above the approved limit.
GIW also raised questions over five vehicles recorded in NiDCOM’s books but reportedly not sighted during physical verification.
Executive Director of the organisation, Comrade Abraham Temitayo Adewoye, said the issues required explanations, reconciliation, documentary verification and, where applicable, recovery.
He said the organisation’s objective was not to pronounce anyone guilty but to establish what happened after the Auditor-General’s observations were raised.
“Were the questioned payments properly authorised? Were procurement procedures followed? Were the contracted goods and services actually delivered? Were taxes properly deducted and remitted? Were recommended recoveries made? Were the five vehicles subsequently located and verified?” he asked.
Adewoye said the answers should be established through documentary evidence rather than media exchanges.
He rejected NiDCOM’s reported description of the campaign as “blackmail and witch-hunting”, insisting that GIW’s objective was to strengthen public institutions through evidence-based accountability.
“An audit observation is not automatically proof of corruption or misappropriation. Our responsibility is to identify accountability questions, request explanations, examine the evidence and report the position fairly,” he said.
The group said NiDCOM had relied on Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to decline access to some additional records requested by GIW.
Adewoye also disclosed that NiDCOM had supplied a Nigeria Police Force interim investigation report concerning a reported burglary and theft in July 2024.
According to him, the report documented the theft of computers, a hard drive, a flash drive and files containing procurement and other official documents.
He said the disappearance of physical records should not automatically end questions about public expenditure, adding that GIW would approach relevant federal institutions to determine whether electronic backups, duplicate records, registry entries, financial-system records or copies submitted to other government agencies could be recovered.
The organisation said it was formally seeking NiDCOM’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 Annual Reports and Financial Statements, relevant audit reports, management responses and supporting financial and procurement records.
Adewoye said the documents would enable GIW to conduct an independent review and determine which issues had been resolved, which transactions reconciled and which accountability questions remained outstanding.
He also said GIW would examine a February 1, 2024 document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning an earlier petition, which indicated that the ministry had examined the allegations and found them unsubstantiated.
He said GIW acknowledged the document and would consider it in its assessment, but maintained that an earlier administrative review did not prevent an independent examination of separate Auditor-General observations.
Adewoye called on the NiDCOM leadership, headed by Hon. Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, to provide Nigerians with the highest possible level of lawful transparency on the outstanding issues.
He added that where a public institution could no longer demonstrate adequate transparency and accountability, appointing and oversight authorities should consider whether new leadership was required to restore public confidence and strengthen institutional controls.
The organisation said its position was not based on personal hostility but on the principle that public office was a public trust and must be exercised in the interest of Nigerians.
Adewoye also expressed support for the economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying macroeconomic reforms must be matched by stronger accountability within individual public institutions.
He said the President could not personally monitor every transaction and administrative decision across the country’s numerous public institutions.
GIW said NNPAI would therefore provide independent civil-society scrutiny by identifying potential weaknesses, requesting evidence and encouraging corrective action.
