COVID-19: Reps panel orders 11 airline operators, others to refund N3.4b

The House of Representatives has directed 11 airline operators to refund the sum of N3,451,076,527 to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) within 21 days.

The resolution was contained in the report of the House Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Bamidele Salam, which probed the ‘alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 intervention funds to MDAs of government from 2020 to 2022.’

From the report submitted to the Committee by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (oAuGF), the operators were part of the 92 beneficiary institutions that received allocations from the total sum of N1,323,754,296,732.77 in COVID-19 intervention funds.

As stipulated in the 312-page report, the House directed 11 aviation sector operators who failed to provide satisfactory proof of lawful utilisation of various sums received as COVID-19 intervention funds to refund such monies back to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation within 21 days and provide evidence of such refunds to the House.

The airlines are to refund sums ranging from N150 million to N947 million.

From the total of N1,323,754,296,732.77, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) donated the sum of $3.4 billion, equivalent to N1,283,214,581,802.89; the Federal Government donated N34 billion; general donations amounted to N6,091,594,929.88; the China General Chamber of Commerce donated N48.120 million; a donation from the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board totalled N70 million, while the sum of N59 million was donated via REMITA e-payment transit.

According to the report submitted by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (oAuGF) to the Committee, out of the 92 beneficiaries, the Federal Government extended the sum of N680 billion for salary augmentations.

Other 36 beneficiary institutions are: the Presidential Task Force (PTF), which received N22,163,130,411; 36 State Governments & FCT received N40 billion; the Nigerian Air Force received N3,577,415,295; the Nigeria Police Force received N10 billion; the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development received N63,865,947,085.68; and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) received N60 billion.

The Federal Ministry of Communication & Digital Economy received N3 billion; the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports received N5,339,168,000; Federal Affairs (National Centre for Women Development) received N1,250,000,000; the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs & Disaster Management received N32,457,500,000; the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons received N1,250,000,000; the Federal Ministry of Aviation received N5 billion; and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget & National Planning received N33,900,000,000.

The Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel received N60 billion; the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) received N52 billion; the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) received N12,424,849,535; the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) received N4 billion; the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research received N3 billion; the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development received N4 billion; the Federal Ministry of Health received N53,599,869,976; the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment received N75 billion; the Federal Ministry of Water Resources received N7,890,525,000; the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) received N539,673,000; the Nigeria Correctional Services received N951,145,088; the Bank of Industry/Nigerian Export Processing Council (NEPC) received N50 billion; the Federal Fire Service received N1,484,903,760; the National Primary Health Development Agency (NPHDA) received N29,102,529,793.54; the Federal Ministry of Education received N2,564,688,400.83; the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) received N5,009,480,015; and the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) received N7,711,595,771.

Other beneficiary institutions are: the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), which received N658,835,819; the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), which received N103,094,038; the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation received N55,167,000; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (oSGF) received N24,049,255,566.46; the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) received N5,009,480,015; and the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada received N1,017,393,783.63, respectively.

As stipulated in the executive summary of the report, “funding allocation made by the Federal Government and both international and local donors from private citizens and foreign-support partners to the Presidential Task Force was deposited into five dedicated commercial bank accounts approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria to coordinate and oversee the multi-sectoral inter-governmental efforts toward contending the spread of the disease in the country. The commercial banks include: Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), and United Bank for Africa (UBA).

“During the investigative hearing conducted by the House Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Honourable Bamidele Salam, the committee observed that: “There were many cases of non-appearance, delayed appearance, non-submission of required documents, and late submission of documents by some ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of government that received funds from the Federal Government COVID-19 intervention funding.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria did not provide required information on time despite several letters written by the Committee. There were several cases of deliberate refusal by some beneficiary entities to provide the certificates of no objection issued to them by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on procurements during the pandemic for verification by the Committee.

“There were several instances of unjustifiable delay in procurements by chief executive officers, contrary to the provisions of the Procurement Act, for which funds were released between 2020 and 2021 but have yet to be completed to date. The committee observed that most of the private sector beneficiaries of the COVID-19 intervention funding used the funds for purposes other than those for which they were approved by the disbursing MDAs.

“The most appropriate examples were private airline operators like Arik Air, Air Peace, Dana Airline, Azman Air, Max Air, Aero Contractors, Overland, etc., and other subsidiary airport service providers who used the funds provided for activities in their normal course of operations rather than for payment of staff salaries or maintenance of aircraft during the period of shutdown.

“The airline operators also shunned invitations to provide more information on the use of funds received from the Federal Government as COVID-19 intervention.

“A private airline operator (King Airlines and Travels Limited), which received a sum of N15.843 million and kept the money in a dedicated account, has, however, offered to refund the money to the Federal Government. Investigations also reveal that a few of the MDAs diverted their COVID-19 intervention funds to different programs/projects for which similar budgetary provisions had adequately been made in the Appropriation Acts for the period under review.”