Public Complaints Commission Chief Bashir Abubakar Under Fire Over ₦22.9m Moscow Trip, Contract to Unregistered Travel Agency

NewsNGR

In a troubling revelation that raises fresh questions about public accountability, an investigation by SecretsReporters has uncovered how the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) disbursed over N22.9 million for international airfare to an unregistered travel firm, paying several times the standard market rate.

Official financial records retrieved from Govspend reveal that on June 19, 2026, the Public Complaints Commission executed a payment of ₦22,996,722.00 to an entity named Manasik Travel Agency Ltd.

The official transaction description explicitly reads: “Pcc air ticket abubakar bashir malam and ogaba onminyi kings lagos to and fro moscow 1001450327-1 0145001001”

According to the record, the fund was disbursed to cover round-trip airfare from Lagos to Moscow for two high-ranking officials: the Chief Commissioner himself, Hon. Bashir Abubakar, and Ogaba Onminyi Kings.

A comprehensive audit of international flight tariffs between Lagos and Moscow across major international carriers including Ethiopian Airlines, EgyptAir, Royal Air Maroc, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways, shows that return tickets on this route typically range between N2 million and N4 million per passenger.

Even at the highest estimated tier of standard business class ticketing on premium carriers, covering two passengers should realistically cost between N3 million and N6 million. It remains entirely unexplained how a routine two-person return trip from Lagos to Moscow inflated to a staggering ₦22.9 million, leaving an unverified margin running into tens of millions of Naira.

Beyond the eye-watering cost of the tickets, independent searches on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) database revealed a more alarming impropriety: Manasik Travel Agency Ltd is not registered as a corporate entity in Nigeria.

Under existing Public Procurement laws and financial regulations, government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) are strictly prohibited from awarding public contracts or disbursing government funds to unregistered corporate bodies.

Despite these statutory mandates, the commission, headed directly by Hon. Bashir Abubakar, who assumed office following the inauguration of the 10th Body of Commissioners on September 24, 2024, approved and released the multi-million Naira contract to the ghost entity.

As the Chief Commissioner and Ombudsman of the PCC, Hon. Bashir Abubakar is tasked with investigating public administrative injustices, fighting bureaucratic corruption, and protecting citizen rights against institutional abuse.

However, this revelation places the Ombudsman at the center of the very administrative misconduct his office is sworn to police. 

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