The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation had last Thursday before the Senate Public Accounts Committee revealed that officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources spent N116m to buy biros, letterhead and toners in one year, and alleged “contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2017 by the Permanent Secretary.”

In the letter dated 12 December 2020 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], the UN Convention against Corruption and African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption require the government to ensure that Nigeria’s resources are used effectively and efficiently, and in a manner consistent with the public interest.”

SERAP said: “An effective and efficient ministry ought to keep careful track of how it spends public money, and put in place a system to eliminate corruption, mismanagement, unnecessary, inefficient, or unreasonable expenditures.”

According to SERAP: “Transparency and openness in the spending by your Ministry would ensure the public trust, efficient, effective and competent delivery of public goods and services. Openness in the spending by your Ministry will also strengthen the country’s democracy and promote efficiency and integrity in government.”

The letter copied to Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, read in part: “Any allegations of misuse of public funds may constitute serious misconduct that impairs the efficiency of your Ministry, and undermines public confidence in the ability of ministries, departments and agencies [MDAs] to provide essential public goods and services to Nigerians.”

“SERAP is concerned that the allegations by the Office of the Auditor-General raises serious violations of anti-corruption legislation, the Nigerian Constitution and international anti-corruption standards.”

“Public officials and MDAs should act and take decisions on the spending of public funds in an open, transparent and accountable manner, and submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.”

“A democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment.”

“We would therefore be grateful if you would indicate the measures being taken to probe the spending of N116m on biros, letterhead and toners in 2015, and disclose the total amount spent on the same items between 2016 and 2020 within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.”

“If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps being taken in this direction, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your Ministry to implement these recommendations in the interest of transparency and accountability.”

“The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources has a legal obligation to conduct an effective investigation into any allegations of breach of anti-corruption legislation and international standards, including those relating to the spending by the Ministry on biros, letterhead and toners between 2015 and 2020.”

“Our requests are consistent with the government’s repeated promise of transparency, and in keeping with the requirements of the Nigerian Constitution, national anti-corruption legislation, Freedom of Information Act, and Nigeria’s international obligations, including under the UN Convention against Corruption, and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.”

“According to our information, the 2015 report of the Auditor General for the Federation shows that officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources spent N116m to buy biros, letterhead and toners in one year.”

“The breakdown of the expenditure showed that the ministry spent N14.5m to purchase Schneider biros, N46m to print the ministry’s letterhead and N56m to procure toner for its photocopy machines.”

“According to the Office of the Auditor-General, ‘the contract for the supply of Schneider biros worth N14.5m was split into smaller packages of less than N5m each and was awarded to four different companies in order to circumvent the permanent secretary’s approval threshold of N5m.’”

“’The contract for the printing of the ministry’s letterhead worth N46m was also split and awarded to 11 different contractors. The contract for the supply of toners worth N56m was split and awarded to seven different contractors.’”

“The Office of the Auditor-General has also reportedly told the Senate Public Accounts Committee that the permanent secretary has failed and/or refused to “explain this contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2007.”

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono has endorsed the Nigeria Young Farmers Network and called for partnership and collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the sector to drive the vision of the NYFN Raise a Million Young Farmers in each State, mechanization agenda and other laudable programmes of the organization in line with the administration’s focus and commitment in diversifying the economy through agriculture.

He said the potentials of the Nigeria Young Farmers in the sector were enormous and needed to be optimally explored for its huge benefits including creating jobs and economic growth.

The Minister disclosed this when he received in audience, members of the Nigeria Young Farmers Network led by its Convener/Director-General, Mr Promise Amahah , in his office, in Abuja, Thursday, 4th February, 2021.

Nanono urged the youth to embrace the mechanization and the livestock programme of the ministry as it targets huge employment platforms for value chain development across board. For the livestock alone, the minister explained that the value chain include: cattles, horses, goats, feeds, diaries etc . In the mechanization value chain, Nanono said about 632 Local Government Areas across the nation will benefit from the mechanization process providing: Service Centres, Tractors, mechanics and administrators and will be driven by the private sector. He added that the mechanization programme will soon be rolled out, only awaiting the approval of the FEC.

According to him, “we are trying to refocus the ministry and broaden the perspective in the way and manner we look at agriculture, we are dealing with the development of the resource base of the country of which agriculture is one of them with over 60 million hectares of arable land to cultivate “.

Nanono reiterated the importance of synergy between agriculture and industrialization such as mechanization, strengthening of the research institutes for improved seedlings, reinvigorating of the extension services. He emphasized that the country is rich and the people must be rich at heart to tap the unlimited potentials in the agricultural sector.

In his remark , the founder & DG of of Nigeria Young Farmers Network, Mr Promise Amahah, said the group was excited about the potentials in the agricultural sector and determined to strengthen the ranks of the young people in Agribusiness to create a more wholistic eco system.

He said the group is focused on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) Goals 1,2,5 and 8 which are focused in mitigating and eradicating hunger, poverty and also achieving inclusive growth. Hence, it was unveiling a programme tagged “Raise a Million Young Farmers Initiative”. He said the programme targets youths across the country.

Promise also explained that the partnership is a moral boaster for youth engagement in agriculture as it will help to further unlock the potentials in the sector. He said that it will also connect young people in agriculture and raise young Nigerian farmers.

Amb. Rachael Bakam

Executive Director, Media and Strategic Communications

For: Nigeria Young Farmers Network

4th February , 2021