The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) has revealed that the Supreme Court spent over N827 million without following due process in 2020.

This was revealed in the hundreds of pages of audited federal government finances made publicly available.

This report came 36 months after that financial year ended. FIJ saw that the Supreme Court of Nigeria was the biggest violator of procurement procedures. Nigeria’s apex court spent N827,075,713 without following due process in 2020.

The report stated that the “Supreme Court has the highest amount of N827,075,713.04” funds spent in violation of due process on procurement. Issue 11 of the OAuGF’s report read:

READ ALSO: REPORT: Over 2400 Nigerians Killed, 1800 Abducted in Tinubu’s First 8 Months

“Section 24(1) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 states, “Except as provided by this Act, all procurement of goods and works open by all procuring entities shall be conducted by open competitive bidding.” Furthermore, Section 25(2)(ii) of the PPA 2007 states “in the case of goods and works valued under National Competitive Bidding, the invitation for bids shall be advertised on the notice board of the procuring entity, any official web sites of the procuring entity, at least two national newspapers, and in the procurement journal not less than six weeks before the deadline for submission of the bids for the goods and works.

“Also, paragraph 2 of Establishment Circular Ref. No. SGF.OP/1/S.3/VIII/250 of 12th April 2011 states, “Accordingly Mr. President has directed that in line with extant regulations, Ministries, Departments and Agencies are enjoined to patronise all brands of vehicles made in Nigeria by the Local Assembly Plants as appropriate. However, in the unlikely event that the vehicles required from the Local Automative Industries are not available at the time of need, necessary clearance must be obtained from Mr. President through this Office before other alternative brands are procured.”

Eleven issues later, the audit also revealed that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning spent the highest amount of public funds (N45,214,294.05) on private functions.

Other federal MDAs that spent millions of public funds on private functions are the Federal Medical Centre, Bida (N12.2 million); the Federal College of Education, Asaba (N12.7 million); the Railway Property Management Company Limited, Kaduna (N2.49 million); and the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, Abuja (N2.15 million).

READ ALSO: REPORT: Cape Town, Nairobi Ahead of Lagos in 2023 Health Care Ranking

Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira, the Auditor General for the Federation, signed and submitted the 2020 report to the Clerk of the National Assembly in December 2023.

Section 85(2) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution mandates the OAuGF to present an annual report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses in the federal government’s ministries, departments and agencies.