Auditor-General flags alleged N345.5m duplicate payment on Abuja ICT Park

The Auditor-General of the Federation has questioned an alleged N345.5 million duplicate payment by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to the contractor handling the Abuja ICT Park project and recommended recovery of the money.

The audit says two payments of N345,499,262.74 were processed as the third tranche of the same 15 per cent mobilisation advance, with identical contract references, amounts and descriptions.

The finding is contained in the Auditor-General’s report on federal ministries, departments and agencies for the year ended December 31, 2024, according to Premium Times. The ministry’s special audit covered January to December 2021, although the payment records discussed in the finding include approvals in 2022 and 2023.

The report said the Permanent Secretary approved the first payment on January 19, 2022, and the second on January 17, 2023. It said there was no record of a reversal, adjustment, refund or accounting entry connecting the later approval to a correction of the earlier transaction.

The contractor disputed receiving both payments and said it received only one payment in 2023, according to the audit account. Auditors said the bank statement supplied omitted the period they needed to examine, preventing verification of that claim.

The audit also said the Finance and Accounts Department did not justify the repeated authorisation or the absence of reconciliation between the cash book and vote book. It recorded no response from ministry management on the alleged duplicate payment.

The Auditor-General recommended recovering N345.499 million, remitting it to the Treasury and submitting evidence of payment to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.

The report raised additional issues on the same project. It questioned N447.67 million recorded in the cash book but not traced to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, and N396.65 million allegedly used for consultancy, consumables, furniture and printing outside the project’s bill of quantities.

Auditors also questioned payments totalling N1.848 billion without a valid performance bond. They said an additional N500 million was released in December 2023 without an interim performance certificate or verified progress report.

The findings separately criticised a N90 million provision for foreign equipment-inspection trips while the project was still at foundation level, saying the ministry did not provide a technical justification, approved schedule or cost-benefit assessment.

According to the audit, requests for project documents between March and June 2025 went unanswered. The Auditor-General asked the Permanent Secretary to explain the denial of access and produce the needs assessment, payment, procurement and environmental documents.

The audit findings are allegations of financial and control failures, not a court determination of theft. The report said they remained outstanding pending implementation of its recommendations.

Source: Premium Times