The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine, has said some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) spent N26.606 billion in 2017 without payment vouchers or requisite approvals for such expenditures.

He said in a report that massive financial infractions are still prevalent in many MDAs despite the anti-corruption stance of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He said: “We reviewed the payment procedures and policies in MDAs against the standing regulations and policies of the Federal Government and found out that several payments totaling ₦26,604,515,374.55 were made with a total of 140 infractions identified in the payments made by the MDAs.

“The sum of N8,608,588,928.68 was expended in 25 infractions without presenting payment vouchers to justify the payments made in the transactions, which is contrary to the provisions of FR 601, which states that ‘all payment entries in the cash book/accounts shall be vouched for on the prescribed treasury forms.

“Vouchers shall be made out in favour of the person or persons to whom the money is actually due. Under no circumstances shall a cheque be raised or cash paid for services for which a voucher has not been raised.”

“Also, a total of 10 MDAs embarked on international travels and training without requisite approval from the appropriate authorities as specified in Extant Circulars, thereby, expending the sum of N2,660,420,450.05 on international travels despite strict restriction placed on it. Furthermore, the sum of N2,789,475,927.84 was expended without providing supporting documents to the payment vouchers in 22 infractions in the MDAs.”

MDAs that fell under the category of those that had outstanding payment vouchers/missing payment vouchers/accounting records not presented for audit were led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with N4.385 billion, Federal Universities of Technology, Akure and Owerri with N237.096 million and N188.768 million, respectively. In another entry, FUT Owerri was said to have made a payment of N1.050 billion without any supporting document.

The Federal University of Lokoja topped the list of MDAs that misapplied funds with N707.625 million.

MDAs that made irregular payments were led by the University of Ilorin with N 513.923 million, Federal University of Petroleum Resources with N350.412 million, National Examination Council, N298.350 million.

The AuGF said the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) spent N2.193 billion on international travels, in the year under review without approval. (Vanguard)