The Nigerian government
has accused Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development for Minister,
Aisha Alhassan (Mama Taraba) of spending N12m on ‘familiarisation visits’ to
unnamed skill acquisition centres in 2015.
This is contained in a
report from the Auditor-General’s office.
The report came days
after Mama Taraba declared support for the presidential ambition of former vice
president Atiku Abubakar.
According to Premium
Times, part of the funds was spent on November 11, 2015, the day the minister was
officially sworn-in.
The report which
contains observations made on the underlying accounting records of ministries,
departments and other agencies of government is the latest from the
Auditor-General’s office.
It said, “an audit
investigation established that the purported acclaimed appraisal visits to
skill acquisition centres were never undertaken.”
The audit committee
observed that: ‘‘all the attached receipts for fueling did not indicate
quantity in litres, the rate per litre, dates of purchase and vehicle number of
the fueled vehicles.
“The International
hotel receipt of 23/11/15 which was issued for the hiring of a mini-bus from a
hotel to unnamed project sites rendered the receipts doubtful.
”Hiring of cars to
Project Sites at ridiculous rates of between N75,000.00 and N77,000.00 for two
days as appeared on receipts numbers 910 of 22/11/15, 107 of 24/11/15, 0416 of
27/11/15, 531 of 25/11/15, is contrary to exercise of the due economy in line
with the provision of Financial Regulation 415.”
Reports of the
investigation by the audit committee revealed that part of the expenses for the
verification visits was made on the day Mrs. Alhassan was sworn in.
”Receipt number 5206 of
11/11/2015, the date the Minister was sworn in by the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and receipt number 11622 of 8th of November, 2015 with
amount N100,000.00 respectively are not clear. The two receipts were for
servicing of a vehicle two times within 3 days,’’ the report noted.
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