Reps Express Concern As Immigration Spends N2bn On Furnishing Project

The House of Representatives, through the Public Accounts Committee, has queried the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for expending N2 billion on a furnishing project.

The committee stated that this amount exceeded the service’s threshold of N100 million for such projects and also criticised the NIS for failing to submit its audited statements of accounts from 2014 to 2023.

This inquiry took place as the panel interrogated the Comptroller General of the Service, Kemi Nanna Nandap, over financial regulatory violations related to contract awards and account renditions on Tuesday.

The Comptroller General was represented by Deputy Controller General Adah James Umanah, who appeared alongside Assistant Comptroller of Immigration Okwuone Patrick and accountant Ibanga Emem Brownson, among other senior officials.

Brownson informed the committee that the NIS had a threshold of N1 billion; however, the representative of the Auditor General present at the hearing asserted that the NIS had an approval limit of N100 million for such projects.

The Immigration delegation was unable to provide a reason for exceeding their approval limit and could not furnish a Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval that would authorise the expenditure of such a substantial amount.

The hearing aimed to investigate the utilisation of the N6.1 billion received by the service from the Service Wide Votes Special Intervention Fund, which had not been accounted for.

The committee’s chairman, Hon. Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun), noted that the service received N1 billion each in 2021 and 2022, followed by N4.1 billion for 2022 and 2023.

Salam indicated that they would also be questioned regarding the Auditor General’s report for 2020, which highlighted three significant queries against the service.

“The first query relates to the denial of access to records of capital expenditure and contracts totalling N12 million, illegal custody of government motor vehicles valued at N139 million, and unapproved expenditure from the revenue account amounting to N761,977,585. Additionally, there were irregularities in contract execution totalling N2,010,080,759, as well as funds appropriated for the store that were not accounted for, amounting to N2,227,060,521, which brings the total to N18 billion for 2021,” he stated.

The committee observed that the NIS awarded a contract valued at N2,010,080,759.65 to Julius Berger Nigeria Limited for the furnishing of the NIS technology building, located at its headquarters in Abuja.

The panel’s investigation also revealed that a payment of N1.7 billion was made to Julius Berger Nigeria Limited for the furnishing of the technology building, but the required stamp duty had not been deducted from this payment.

The CGI’s representative clarified that the N4.1 billion was transferred into the service’s account on 30th December 2022 but was subsequently withdrawn on 31st December 2022.

She also confirmed that the N2 billion was used to settle outstanding debts with domestic contractors, admitting that the NIS had failed to deduct the stamp duty on the N1.7 billion payment made to Julius Berger.

Consequently, the committee directed the NIS to recover the N15 million stamp duty owed to Julius Berger and remit it to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) within seven days, providing evidence of the remittance.

The committee also gave the NIS seven days to submit proof of the rendition of its audited accounts for the period 2014 to 2023, along with evidence of Federal Executive Council approval for the over N2 billion contract awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Limited.

Furthermore, the service is required to respond to the eight queries raised by the Auditor General in 2020 and 2021, totalling N19.2 billion.

The committee ruled that the Comptroller General must appear in person at the next hearing, alongside the Director of Finance and Accounts of the service, on 25th February 2025.

“The Nigerian Immigration Service has defaulted in compliance with the regulations regarding the timely submission of audited accounts from 2014 to 2023, as there is no evidence to suggest otherwise from what they have submitted here.

“The issue of non-remittance of operating surplus is very serious, especially now that Nigeria relies on borrowed funds to finance our budget each year. We must focus our attention on any revenue leakage. We will grant you another seven days to submit evidence of the timely rendition of audited accounts.

“We will adjourn to Tuesday, 25th February, for the continuation of this hearing, and we expect that the Comptroller General, the Director of Finance, and all relevant subject matter experts will be in attendance,” the committee’s chairman concluded