Auditor-General Report shows Police inability to account for 45 rifles

Forty five rifles were missing from different police formations across the country in 2015, the Auditor General annual report has revealed.

The report, dated December 31, 2016, was laid on the floor of the Senate late last month.

Giving the breakdown, the report said the Nigeria Mobile Police Force, Squadron 43, Lagos State could not account for 25 rifles.

“Neither police investigation nor completed Part II and III of the Treasury Form 146 were presented for audit verification, in compliance with Financial Regulations 2604 and 2606.

“The Inspector General of Police has been requested to give up-to-date formal report of these missing rifles. Otherwise, the full weight of Financial Regulations 3101 and 3129 will be applied,” the report said.

The report also said at the Rivers State Police Command six AK-47 and two assault rifles, “were lost by a police officer,” adding that “147 rounds of ammunition were reportedly lost by the officers of the unit.”

At the Enugu State Police Command, the report said three rifles (one K-2 and two AK-47) were reported missing.

One assault rifle with 28 rounds of 5.56mm calibre ammunition was lost by a police inspector on duty on February 5, 2015 at the Divisional Police Office, Umuguma, Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State.

The division also auctioned 56 abandoned and unclaimed exhibit items of various descriptions without due process, the report said.

Similarly, at the Divisional Police Office, Umuagwo, Ohaji LGA of Imo State, the report said: “Five arms recorded in the Arms/Ammunition Return of September 19, 2013 could not be traced in the latest hand over note of the Armourer and Divisional Police Officer (DPO).”

At the Iho Divisional Police Office in Ikeduru LGA of Imo State, two LAR rifles could not be sighted by the team of auditors on inspection on October 12, 2015, while one LAR rifle was said to have been with one officer at ‘B’ Operation Department, Owerri, but no document was presented to authenticate the claim.

Other infractions by the division included an auction of 17 unclaimed exhibits without public notice and survey report and that the amount generated and how it was accounted for was not stated.

The Owerri Urban division could not produce a black Mazda saloon car, which was abandoned at the Mbaise Motor Park for audit inspection on October 13, 2015.

The Auditor General’s report indicated that the Divisional Police Office at Mgbidi, Oru LGA of Imo State could not account for N200, 000 exhibit and one Honda Shuttle as there was no evidence to show that they were transferred to Orlu Area Command as claimed by the division.

According to the report, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police of the Nigeria Police Force, Zone 8 headquarters, Lokoja refused to return a Toyota Hilux pick-up assigned to him while he was still in service. This is despite a letter of request for him to return it dated November 11, 2015.

The zonal headquarters carried out auctions of eight vehicles and three motorcycles without compliance with due process, transparency and accountability, the report said.

The report said the attention of the Inspector General of Police was drawn to the irregularities and that his responses were still being awaited.

The police force was also accused of auctioning abandoned and unclaimed exhibit items without compliance with due process, transparency and accountability.

There were also cases of missing vehicles and cash exhibit, which the police failed to account for, according to the report.

The report also indicted Force Headquarters of not fully complying with the directive on TSA during the period.

“During the audit examining of transfer of funds from commercial banks to Treasury Single Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria in compliance with the Federal Government directives, it was observed that a sum of N1.493bn was transferred from the Headquarters Pool Account with a commercial bank, leaving the balance of N15.036 million unremitted to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

“The Inspector General of Police has been requested to comply with the government directive on TSA and remit the balance of N15.036 million, forwarding the relevant Bank Statement for verification.

The report also showed that the sum of N12.936 million was used to pay some staff of the Police Service Commission (PSC) Out of Pocket Expenses (OPE) on DTA and transportation for attending a workshop in Nasarawa State.

It said the workshop was an extra budgetary spending because it was not contained in the 2015 approved budget and that the commission could not produce the attendance sheet signed by the officers that participated in the workshop and the group photograph snapped.

“In view of the above mentioned anomalies, the payments could not be accepted as legitimate charges against public fund. The permanent secretary had been requested to recover the sum of N12.936m from the beneficiaries and pay back to chest, furnishing the payment particulars for audit verification. His response is being awaited,” the report said.

The Civil Defence

As for the Civil Defence headquarters, the sum of N526.458 million was deducted between January and December, 2015 as Pay As You Earn (PAYE), but the evidence of acknowledgment of receipt of the amount by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was not produced for audit report.

“The Commandant General has been requested to produce the evidence of the receipt of N526.458m by FIRs,” the report said.

The report said the sum of N40.615m was recorded into the transcript as payments for the period under review whereas a corresponding entry of N27.939m was recorded in the analysis book, leaving a discrepancy of N17.054m unaccounted for.

In the month of July 2015 alone, the report said, payment vouchers totalling N41.331m “were misclassified to other votes other than those provided in the approved estimate, contrary to Financial Regulation 417,” the report added.

Similarly, between February and December, 2015, there were variances in the monthly payment of salary of the Civil Defence. The variances, both in surplus and deficit, ranged from -1.31 percent to 7.68 percent.

“It was worrisome that there was no authority, variation advice and variation control raised and maintained to support each month variation as stipulated in the Financial Regulations,” the Auditor General said.

There was also an infraction of N3.070m for the payment of Garnishee Order between March 2 and April 4, 2015 without proper authorization and another N2.110m claimed to have been remitted to FIRS without evidence.

The Auditor General’s report indicated further that a payment voucher of N5.523m was raised to pay an insurance broker for the year 2014 without any evidence of insurance policy generator and no computation of how the amount was arrived at. Another N6.578m paid for the renewal of insurance policy of the Civil Defence motorcycles could not be accounted for.

Yet, the Civil Defence paid another N19.245m to an insurance broker on November 5, 2015 without stating the classes of the insurance even as the payment voucher was not produced for sighting, with a separate N6m being paid as insurance cover on NSCDC’s assets nationwide without evidence.

The report also said that the Bauchi State Command of the NSCDC failed to maintain a vote book for the control and monitoring of its expenditures as a result of which various amounts totalling N1.939m allocated during the period and 37 vouchers amounting to N1.666m were not posted on the vote book, contrary to Financial Regulation 402.

On missing rifle, the report said a G3 rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition were “not seen physically as they were purported to have been taken away by the previous commandant who was on posting to another command.”

The Auditor General said all the infractions were communicated to the Commandant General in July 2016, but that despite a reminder in August, no response was forwarded in that regard.

This report first appeared on Daily Trust 13/03/2017.