A new federal audit has indicted the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) for inflating a major construction contract and approving payments totalling N6.93 billion without the legally required due-process clearances.
The findings are contained in the 2022 Auditor-General for the Federation’s report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), submitted to the National Assembly.
According to the report, NASC paid N11.65 billion to a construction firm on August 11, 2020, for the building of its office complex, with a contractual completion period of 24 months. However, auditors uncovered that on November 29, 2023, the Commission approved an upward contract review of N6.93 billion—representing more than 50% of the original contract value.
The additional funds were purportedly for the conversion of a roof garden into office space, but the audit team found that no Bill of Quantities (BoQ) was presented for review. Even the BoQ submitted for the original N11.65 billion contract was unpriced, raising serious questions about transparency and procurement integrity.
The audit also reported that essential procurement documents—including the Commission’s needs assessment, newspaper advertisements, bidding records, contract agreements, bidders’ quotations, minutes of tender board meetings, Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval, and a Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) “No Objection” certificate—were not provided to the auditors.
Citing Paragraph 2 of the Establishment Circular (Ref: SGF/OP/I/S.3/VIII/124, dated August 25, 2009), the Auditor-General stressed that all contracts requiring variations must be forwarded to the BPP for review and certification before approval. The NASC, according to the report, failed to comply with this mandatory requirement.
The report concluded that these irregularities resulted from “weaknesses in the internal control system” of the Commission.
Following NASC’s failure to respond to audit queries, the Auditor-General recommended that the Chairman of the Commission should:
- Account to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly for the N11.65 billion contract awarded without due process;
- Refund the N6.93 billion representing inflated contract costs;
- Remit the funds to the Treasury and transmit evidence of remittance to PAC;
- Face sanctions stipulated in Paragraphs 3102 and 3103 of the Financial Regulations (2009) relating to contract inflation and unauthorized variations.
In another sweeping discovery, the audit report revealed that seven MDAs failed to remit a total of N1.47 trillion in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) accounted for the largest unremitted sum—N1.45 trillion—while the National Eye Centre, Kaduna, recorded the lowest figure at N1.09 million.
Additionally, the report found that 18 MDAs failed to remit another N1.85 billion in IGR. The Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, had the highest outstanding IGR of N578.9 million, while the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny, Rivers State, had the lowest at N1.55 million.
