The alleged diversion of funds and looting by some officials breached the various provisions of the state’s financial regulations and civil service rules, according to a government report.
At least N1.86 billion was looted in Abia State by officials of the state government in 2023, an audit report by the state auditor-general has revealed.
It was titled, “report of the auditor-general for the state on the financial statements and accounts of the Abia State Government of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December 2023.”
It covered the period of one year- from January to December 2023.
Okezie Ikpeazu served as the governor of Abia State from 29 May 2015 to 29 May 2023 under the Peoples Democratic Party.
Alex Otti of the Labour Party took over from Mr Ikpeazu on 29 May 2023 after winning the March 2023 governorship election in the state.
This means that Mr Ikpeazu served as governor in the state for five months within the period, while his successor, Mr Otti, governed for seven months within the same year.
The alleged diversion of funds and looting by some officials breached the various provisions of the state’s financial regulations and civil service rules, the report stated.
According to the report, the alleged fraud involved the award of contracts without due process, payments that circumvented due process, purchases that were not delivered, and funds that were insufficiently accounted for or unaccounted for.
Others include tax evasion, non-execution of awarded contracts, unvouched payments, unrecorded expenditures, payments made without evidence, and unremitted tax deductions.
PREMIUM TIMES tallied the figures for “suspicious expenditures” and “unaccounted funds” from the affected ministries, departments, and agencies to arrive at the total amount.
Some government institutions affected included various high and magistrate courts, the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, the state Ministry of Petroleum, and the Abia State Agency for Mass Literacy in Umuahia.
Others included Abia State Polytechnic Aba, colleges of education, and secondary schools.
Of the N1.86 billion, a total of N1,782, 419,567 was either unaccounted for outright or paid without following due processes, the report stated.
A total of N79,461,000 was allegedly diverted into private accounts owned and operated by individuals working for the Abia State Government.
PREMIUM TIMES counted at least 54 transactions and payments which were queried in the audit report for various reasons, as earlier indicated in this report.
The diversion of public funds into private accounts happened at the Abia State Ministry of Finance and the state’s Ministry of Petroleum, according to the report.
The report said N32,120,000 was transferred from the government treasury into the account of the then-permanent secretary of the finance ministry, whom we prefer to identify simply as Kelechi.
Similarly, the report said N5,720,000 was transferred into the account of the current director of finance at the ministry, Obinna Nwaokoma.
The two suspicious transactions totalled N37,840,000.
Kelechi’s known mobile number was unreachable when our reporter called the line from January to April. He has yet to respond to a text message seeking his comments.
Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that Kelechi, who was among civil servants disengaged from service by Governor Alex Otti’s administration in late 2023, had travelled outside Nigeria.
However, Mr Nwaokoma, when contacted on 11 April, denied receiving N5.7 million belonging to the government in his private bank account.
He told PREMIUM TIMES that he had worked as an accountant in the civil service for 31 years and that he could not have allowed his private bank account to be used for government business.
“There is no such thing,” he said.
He said he had been invited by the Abia State House of Assembly and the state’s audit unit, where he was cleared of the allegation.
“When we got back to the state’s audit, they said it (the allegation) was an oversight, and we said, ‘but you people didn’t get back to us,’” he narrated.
The official said he was ready to make his bank statement available for scrutiny, insisting that he was not guilty as had been alleged earlier.
Similarly, the audit report said N41,621,000 was “found to have been lodged into” the account of Philemon Asonye Ogbonna, the state commissioner for environment.
Mr Asonye was appointed as commissioner in July 2023 by the incumbent governor of the state, Mr Otti.
