Officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources involved in the spending of N116 million on stationery have either retired or been redeployed to other Ministries.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said this in a statement by his media aide, Garba Deen Muhammad.
Explaining that the infractions occurred before the present leadership of the Ministry, the statement said: “The general public should note that while it is true that the Auditor-General raised audit observations on infractions committed by the ministry of petroleum resources, these infractions related to the 2015 accounts of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“It should further be noted that these infractions appeared in the 2015 report of the Auditor-General for the Federation which is presently under consideration by the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate.
“The public should further note that those indicted by the report of the Auditor-General of the Federation have since been retired or redeployed out of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in line with the practice in the civil service.”
Sylva said those indicted are being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
A breakdown of the spending based on the report of the Auditor-General of the Federation in December 2020 showed that N14.5 million was spent on the purchase of Schneider pens, N46 million to print the ministry’s letterhead and N56 million on toner for its photocopy machines in 2015.
The audit report is undergoing scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate, headed by Mathew Urhoghide (Edo South).