More than four months after submitting an audit report on COVID-19 spending in Nigeria, the National Assembly and Auditor-General concealed the details.
On the other side, no update from the Private sector-led, Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) on theKPMG’s audit report.
In January 2021, the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Aisagbonriodion Matthew Urhoghide (Edo South), acknowledged that the National Assembly received the report in December 2020 and had instructed the Auditor-General not to reveal it to the public yet. Senator Urhoghide has described the document as period checks on COVID-19 spending in Nigeria.
Over the months, Dataphyte has reported how government agencies inflated COVID-19 contracts and medical supplies, ignored procurement processes, lack of transparency and inadequacies in disbursing relief grants to SMEs.
In areport released by BudgIT on Tuesday, titled: “COVID-19: introductory report on fiscal support, palliative analysis an institutional response,” the civic-tech organisation revealed that an approximate N99 billion was released by the government and private sector-led coalition for COVID-19 response last year.
The report focused on six (6) states – Niger, Lagos, Kano, Ogun, Enugu and Rivers – and revealed that many people vehemently disagreed with the government’s method of palliative distribution, especially to the vulnerable and how politicians hijacked the process.
The United Nations donated N23.8 billion, the private sector donated N27.8 billion, the oil and gas sector donated N21.4 billion, and the Presidential Task Force raked in 24.8 billion donations. Other donations were from Development partners and citizens.
Apart from donations, BudgIT said the federal government had disbursed N288 billion from the N500bn set aside for COVID-19 intervention programmes through its Economic Sustainability Plan. Despite all these, no comprehensive details of disbursed funds have been published on the Open Treasury platform, showing concerns about the lack of a proper framework for COVID-19 fund accountability in Nigeria.
Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, Senior Program Officer, BudgIT, said, “It is discouraging to discover that not much has been done regarding COVID-19 fund accountability in Nigeria.”
COVID-19 payment receipts had also been removed from the open treasury platform, per Dataphyte’s investigation in February 2021. The action violated the guidelines on the financial transparency policy and public trust in the government.
NASS reacts
When Dataphyte reached out to Senator Urhoghide on Wednesday, April 21, he said the Committee on Public Accounts still working on the 2018 audit reports of government agencies. “When we are done with the financial reports, we can now look into the COVID-19 audit document,” he said.
An officer at the Auditor General’s office said the agreement with the National Assembly (NASS) was that the report would not be released to the public.
Efforts to reach CACOVID proved abortive as phone numbers on the website were switched off.
Civil Society demands COVID-19 fund accountability in Nigeria
The call for an effective framework for COVID-19 transparency and accountability could not have happened at a better time, especially in an environment deeply rooted in a profiteering culture and aversion to openness in the use of public funds. According to the report, BudgIT said the continuous mismanagement of palliative items and funds earmarked for the COVID-19 response had created a wider gap between the rich and the poor. The vulnerable are marginalised and denied access to the palliative items that rightfully belong to them.
“Health emergencies are inevitable, and a country must never be caught unawares. An effective response must begin with adequate preparation and resource allocation to the health sector, after which a proper process for monitoring, transparency and accountability should be established,” said Gabriel Okeowo, CEO, BudgIT.
Mr Segun Elemo, the Executive Director of Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), decried secrecy surrounding Nigeria’s COVID-19 intervention funds.
Mr Elemo said if South Africa, Kenya, and Malawi can openly publish their COVID-19 spending, ‘Nigeria should not be an exception.’
He called on the Audit Office to publish the interim report of COVID-19 spending in Nigeria. Mr Elemo also urged the Auditor General to continue to audit additional spending in entirely COVID-19 intervention finances – either stimulus, palliative, or vaccine fund.