The office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) has indicted four Nigerian embassies abroad for not remitting monies they collected as visa fees and for other items to the federal treasury in 2008.
Consequently, it has asked the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the anomalies.
According to the 2008 Audit Report, which was forwarded to the National Assembly in October last year, the Nigerian embassy in Paris, France collected as revenue a total of N271,810,955.20, but did not remit the money to the federal government.
The 284-page report, which was signed by the acting Auditor General of the Federation, G.F Ogunshina, said the non-remittance contravenes Financial Regulation 302, which requires the issuance of Treasury Receipts by all Sub-standards or revenue collectors for all revenue collected by them. The report stated that the mission was instead issuing temporary receipts for revenues collected by them.
The report also said that the Nigerian Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal collected € 101,902.82 (N21,756,822.73) without remitting it, but instead spent the money, contrary to Financial Regulation 323.
On its part, the Embassy of Nigeria in Moscow generated US$94,819.00 (N138,443,515.16) as revenue from visa between January and December, 2008 but did not pay it into the treasury.
The report says: “Financial Regulation 412 stipulates that the authority conveyed to officers controlling votes by recurrent warrants is limited to the amounts provided under each subhead in the approved estimate and no expenditure on any subhead of the recurrent estimate in excess of the provision in the approved estimates may be authorized by any officer controlling a vote, without approval of the National Assembly which will be sought by means of an application for virement or supplementary provisions.
“Contrary to the above provision, the Nigeria Embassy, Moscow, Russia expended the sum of N227,822,248.84 in excess of the approved provision under the recurrent subheads of expenditure between 2006 and 2008 fiscal years. The permanent secretary has been informed of this anomaly for his comment.”
On the country’s embassy in Athens, Greece, the audit report said contrary to the extant regulations, it collected the sum of €31,765.00 (N6,782,005.38) without issuing Treasury Receipts even as it expended another N41,188,307.30 in excess of the approved estimates on 17 various recurrent subheads during the year under review.
Contravened regulations
In the Nigerian embassy in Dakar, Senegal, according to the report, CFA 8,814,638.88 (N2,250,313.00) was paid to 18 contractors in cash, thereby contravening the financial regulation which requires that payment to firms shall be made only by cheques.
It added that, “CFA 7,454,000.00 (N1,902,986.98) collected as revenue and entered in the register, but Treasury Receipts were not issued to the payers even when the mission had the Treasury Receipts in abundance.
“Hence it is difficult for me to confirm that (N1,902,986.98) as entered in the register was the actual revenue collected. Besides, it contravenes the financial regulation which requires that every sub-accounting officer or revenue collector shall issue a receipt for each sum paid to him.
“The permanent secretary has been informed of these irregularities for his comments and necessary action,” the report states.
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