Presidency may Summon Minister over N96bn Silos Fraud
THE presidency has directed a full-scale investigation into the missing of N96 billion silos fund set aside by the federal government to take care of natural disasters whose repercussions prove beyond the capacities of state governments to remedy.
The fraud had been uncovered when Mr. Hamman Tukur, the outgoing chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, who is retiring from service, ordered an auditing as part of the handing over processes. The audit traced the fraud to the managers of the federal ministry of agriculture and water resources’ agricultural and food seed programme.
A well-placed source in the ministry, who revealed this, last week, said President Goodluck Jonathan summoned Professor Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah, minister of agriculture and water resources and Mr. Awodele Najeem Adewale, his minister of state, demanding that the culprits be fished out and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
An audit of the natural resources fund under the ministry uncovered the fraud. About 4.5 per cent of the federation account is set aside to make provisions for natural disasters such as erosions, and 1.6 per cent of the fund is used for the development of natural resources, including support for agriculture, solid minerals and river basin development activities.
The fraud was discovered when Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) records of the Federation Accounts Income and Expenditure financial statement for the natural resources fund last year revealed that the balance of the account brought forward from the previous year reduced from a total of about N110.5 billion at the beginning of January to about N73.5 billion by last December.
The source said the N95 billion may have been diverted for the construction of new silos to boost the country’s grain storage and food production capacities. There is however a $150 million World Bank-supported special intervention funding facility to government for the completion of this particular project.
Sources further disclosed that N1 billion was also allegedly used for the development of some water resources projects at various locations across the country. Though the silos was initiated under the federal government’s agro-allied value chain infrastructure development project slated for 20 states and scheduled for completion next year, indications are that nothing is happening at most of the selected sites.
The silos have a combined storage capacity of 1.025 million metric tonnes. They were to be located in the different grains producing parts of the country including Ekiti, Kebbi, Zamfara, Borno, Imo and Bayelsa states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), all of which have 100,000 metric tonnes capacity.
The contracts for the construction of the silos were awarded more than 20 years ago, but Mr. Abba Ruma, former minister of agriculture and water resources, had said during a visit to the Abuja facility located near the National Food Reserve Agency, Gwagwalada, that construction work was only completed on 11 of them, while the rest 14 were abandoned.
The fraud had been uncovered when Mr. Hamman Tukur, the outgoing chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, who is retiring from service, ordered an auditing as part of the handing over processes. The audit traced the fraud to the managers of the federal ministry of agriculture and water resources’ agricultural and food seed programme.
A well-placed source in the ministry, who revealed this, last week, said President Goodluck Jonathan summoned Professor Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah, minister of agriculture and water resources and Mr. Awodele Najeem Adewale, his minister of state, demanding that the culprits be fished out and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
An audit of the natural resources fund under the ministry uncovered the fraud. About 4.5 per cent of the federation account is set aside to make provisions for natural disasters such as erosions, and 1.6 per cent of the fund is used for the development of natural resources, including support for agriculture, solid minerals and river basin development activities.
The fraud was discovered when Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) records of the Federation Accounts Income and Expenditure financial statement for the natural resources fund last year revealed that the balance of the account brought forward from the previous year reduced from a total of about N110.5 billion at the beginning of January to about N73.5 billion by last December.
The source said the N95 billion may have been diverted for the construction of new silos to boost the country’s grain storage and food production capacities. There is however a $150 million World Bank-supported special intervention funding facility to government for the completion of this particular project.
Sources further disclosed that N1 billion was also allegedly used for the development of some water resources projects at various locations across the country. Though the silos was initiated under the federal government’s agro-allied value chain infrastructure development project slated for 20 states and scheduled for completion next year, indications are that nothing is happening at most of the selected sites.
The silos have a combined storage capacity of 1.025 million metric tonnes. They were to be located in the different grains producing parts of the country including Ekiti, Kebbi, Zamfara, Borno, Imo and Bayelsa states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), all of which have 100,000 metric tonnes capacity.
The contracts for the construction of the silos were awarded more than 20 years ago, but Mr. Abba Ruma, former minister of agriculture and water resources, had said during a visit to the Abuja facility located near the National Food Reserve Agency, Gwagwalada, that construction work was only completed on 11 of them, while the rest 14 were abandoned.
