Code of Conduct Tribunal can’t account for 52 contracts, Auditor-General Report reveals

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) cannot account for 52 contracts awarded as far back as 2023, according to the latest report of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF) on the finances of federal institutions.

The audit report, which recently became public after its submission to the National Assembly in July, said the CCT awarded the 52 contracts worth N52.2 million in 2023 but failed to send procurement records to the Bureau of Public Procurement as required by law.

The case is part of three clusters of transactions the auditor general flagged in the CCT’s records for the 2024 financial year. Two other issues relate to N46.86 million in payments made by the CCT without prepayment audit and a total of N9.38 million paid without relevant supporting documents.

These queried transactions summed up to N108.46 million, which the auditor general’s office said the CCT has yet to satisfactorily account for.

On 17 July, the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF), Shaakaa Chira, submitted the report, covering the finances of federal institutions for 2024, to the National Assembly as mandated by the Nigerian Constitution.

The document is titled the Auditor General of the Federation’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for 2024.

Volume II of the report dedicates a section to judiciary institutions, under which it presented its findings on the failures in the expenditures of the CCT, Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption court concerned with cases of ethical and assets declaration breaches brought against public officers suspected to have violated the code of conduct stipulated in the nation’s Constitution.

Although the report covered 2024 expenditures of the CCT and other federal institutions, the tribunal’s 52 contracts examined in the document were awarded in 2023 when the immediate past chairman, Danladi Umar, was heading the tribunal.

Mr Umar, who chaired the tribunal for 13 years, from 2011 to 2024, was succeeded by Mainasara Kogo in July 2024.

But the audit report did not specify under whose leadership payments were made for the flagged 52 contracts.

Also, the nature of the contracts was not disclosed in the report. It is unclear if the omission was a result of CCT’s failure to provide necessary records or the auditor general’s decision to leave out the information.

However, the audit report said there was no evidence that the tribunal transmitted the procurement documents regarding the 52 contracts it awarded in 2023 to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), as required by Section 16(13) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The provision requires procuring entities to send copies of their procurement records to the BPP within three months after the end of the financial year.

It states, “Copies of all procurement records shall be transmitted to the Bureau not later than 3 months after the end of the financial year and shall show:

“(a) information identifying the procuring entity and the contractors;

“(b) the date of the contract award, and

“(c) the value of the contract, and (d) the detailed records of the procurement proceeding.”

But as of July, when the auditor-general submitted its report to the National Assembly, the CCT had yet to submit the relevant records concerning the 52 contracts.

“There was no evidence of transmitting procurement documents to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) who is the statutory body to validate and authenticate due process adhered to during contracts pre-qualification process, and awards concluded,” the auditor general’s report read.

It attributed the “anomalies” to “weaknesses in the internal control system at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Abuja.”

The report, which is Nigeria’s most sweeping audit examination of public institutions’ finances, also stated that the systemic failure poses risks of loss of public funds and the award of contracts to ineligible contractors.

The OAuGF received CCT’s explanation for its failure to provide the BPP with the necessary procurement records but treated it as an unsatisfactory excuse.

According to the auditor-general, the CCT management had blamed the failure on the officer responsible for preparing and transmitting the procurement records.

“The management regrets the action of the scheduled officer,” the management of the CCT said in its response cited in the audit report, adding that the new officer would comply with the requirement in future.

Rejecting the excuse, however, the audit report tagged it “unsatisfactory” and maintained that its findings remained valid until the recommended actions were implemented.

The report recommended that the CCT chairman be compelled to account for the N52.2 million expended on the 52 contracts to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly.

It also recommended that the money should be recovered and remitted to the treasury, with evidence of the remittance forwarded to the committees. This recommendation did not indicate if the money should still be recovered if the CCT is able to account for its use.

However, it further recommended sanctions for gross misconduct if the tribunal failed to comply.

The audit also found that the tribunal paid 29 vouchers worth N46,862,450 without the required prepayment audit.

The report said the vouchers and their supporting documents were not checked by the CCT’s Internal Audit Department before payment.

The requirement is contained in the Financial Regulations 2009, which requires government institutions to check payment vouchers and their supporting documents before releasing public funds.

The process, known as pre-payment audit, is designed to ensure that payments are properly authorised (100 per cent) and supported by the required documents.

The auditor general said the failure exposed the funds to the risk of misappropriation and diversion.

Although the CCT management acknowledged the importance of internal controls and promised that all payment vouchers would be pre-audited before future payments, the auditor general rejected the response as unsatisfactory and retained the finding.

It recommended that the CCT be made to account for the expenses to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees, recover and remit the amount to the Treasury and submit evidence of the remittance.

It also recommended sanctions for irregular payments if the tribunal failed to comply.

The audit further found that nine payment vouchers worth N9,385,000 for works and the procurement of goods and services lacked relevant supporting documents.

The missing documents included approvals, invoices or receipts, letters of award, Store Receipt Vouchers, Store Issue Vouchers and project files.

The auditor general said the failure created risks of diversion and loss of public funds.

The CCT management said documents had been attached to the payment vouchers but acknowledged that they were not sufficient or convincing enough to substantiate the expenditure during the audit.

The auditor general again rejected the response as unsatisfactory.

It recommended that the CCT account to the Public Accounts Committees for the N9.385 million, recover and remit the amount to the treasury and provide evidence of the remittance.

The report also recommended sanctions for irregular payments if the tribunal failed to comply.

The latest findings come on the heels of a previous audit report flagging contract payments the CCT failed to account for.

In its 2019 audit report, the auditor general’s office disclosed that the tribunal could not account for over N400 million it paid to contractors for various projects during the financial year.

Similar to its findings in its latest report on CCT’s expenditures, the OAuGF revealed in its 2019 report, released in 2021, that the tribunal could not provide any documents to justify the contract expenditures.

The tribunal’s chief registrar, Abdulmalik Shuaibu, told PREMIUM TIMES in December 2021, during coverage of the auditor-general’s disclosures, that the “issue has since been sorted out”.

But no such indication appeared in the auditor-general’s 2019 report, released two years after the questioned transactions.

The CCT is a federal body established under the Nigerian Constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act to adjudicate on alleged breaches of the code of conduct for public officers.

Such complaints include non-declaration or false declaration of assets, abuse of office, bribery and conflicts of interest involving public officers, and other breaches codified in the code of conduct for public officers.

The tribunal conducts trials of public officers based on complaints of breaches of the code brought by the CCB and imposes the punishments prescribed by law.

Appeals from its decisions go to the Court of Appeal and, ultimately, the Supreme Court.

Among the high-profile personalities who have faced trial at the tribunal is President Bola Tinubu, who was charged over his activities as former governor of Lagos State.

Others include former Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen and former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who stood trial on charges covering his time as former governor of Kwara State and as Senate president.