Revelations emerged Friday that vehicles worth N90 million were sold for N2 million by top government officials in the Niger Delta between 2014 and 2015.
The alleged undervalued and disposal of the government property came to the fore Friday when the 2015 Audit Report, containing the query, was looked into by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts (SPAC).
As stated in the query issued on the permanent secretary of the ministry by the Office of Auditor General of the Federation, “22 vehicles were given to various beneficiaries in May 2015 and a total sum of N5.2 million realised.”
“Six out of the vehicles costing N90 million were found to have been disposed for peanut of N2 million less than a year after acquisition. The vehicles were purchased from JBS motors on 23rd of June and 18th August 2014 from JBS Motors and Co, Abuja at a total cost of N105 million and duly paid for.
“In less than one year after acquisition, six out of the vehicles worth N90 million were sold at a ridiculous sum of N2.1 million.”
The Committee chaired by Mathew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South) in its investigation discovered that the evaluation report of the Federal Ministry of Works did not include the newly purchased vehicles.
It, therefore, demanded that the accounting officer in the ministry (the permanent secretary) should be sanctioned for illegal disposal of the vehicles.
It specifically ordered the repayment of N61.4 million being the under disposable value of the vehicle which must be recovered and paid into the nation’s treasury.
