Edo Michael
A report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) has revealed that 178,459 firearms, out of which 88,078 are AK-47 riffles, are missing in the Nigerian Police Force.
It was also revealed that the Nigeria Police Force was unable to account for various expenditures totalling N3,221,439,688, including monies paid for suspected phoney contracts and unexplained spending.
This was contained in a query by the Auditor-General for the Federation, in its Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Year Ended December 31, 2019.’
The acting Auditor-General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, had presented the report to the Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Amos, on September 15, 2021, while the Senate and House Committees on Public Accounts are investigating the queries.
In a query titled ‘Loss of fire arms and ammunition,’ the Auditor-General said audit observed, from the review of arms movement register, monthly returns of arms and ammunition, and the ammunition register at the Armoury Section, that “the total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 stood at 178,459.”
It added, “Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations could not be accounted for as at January 2020. Formal reports on the loss of firearms through dully completed Treasury Form 146 (Loss of Stores) were not presented for examination.
“Records obtained from Force Armament at the Force headquarters showed 21 Police Mobile Force Squadron, Abuja did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas, schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total number of 46 missing arms between 2000 and February 2019, and the value of the lost firearms could not be ascertained because no document relating to their cost of acquisition was presented for examination.”
The report also reveals that, 10 contracts totalling N1.136billion were awarded to a single proprietor in the name of different companies.
In the companies’ profiles, the contact phone numbers and email addresses of the three companies were the same.
The three companies did not disclose their relationship in accordance with the fundamental principles of procurement as required by extant regulation, the report stated.
It further said that the sum of N924.985million was paid for 11 contracts involving construction of three units of Gunshot Spotter System, supply of 50 units of Ballistic Roller Trolley and 20 units of Ballistic Mobile Surveillance House in some selected Commands and Formations. Final payments were made in March 2019 without evidence of execution. Documents such as end user certificate, store receipt voucher (SRV), store issue voucher (SIV), job completion certificate were not presented for audit examination.
According to the document, the items claimed to have been constructed/supplied at the Force Headquarters, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command, explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) unit and (PMF unit as specified in the award letters revealed that the contracts had not been executed by the time of physical verification of the purported items in June 2020.
Consequently, the auditor-general’s office asked the police force to explain why contracts were awarded to companies owned by same persons.
The office of the auditor-general also attributed the “anomalies” to “weaknesses” in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force.
