A report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) has shown that 178,459 firearms and ammunition belong to the police are missing or unaccounted for, IgbereTV reports.
The audit reviewed arms movement register, monthly returns of arms and ammunition and ammunition register at the armoury section.
Of this number, 88,078 AK-47 rifles. 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations could not be accounted for as of January 2020.
A breakdown of the missing firearms showed that 601 firearms are missing from 15 training institutions; 42 in 23 formations; 1514 missing in 37 police commands; 29 missing in zone 1-12 were not also reported as required by law, with 1,721 firearms are missing in Police Mobile Force (PMF) 1-68.
Records obtained from force armament unit at the Force Headquarters showed 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja, did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas the schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total number of 46 missing arms between year 2000 and February 2019.
“The value of the lost firearms could not be ascertained because no document relating to their cost of acquisition was presented for examination,” the audit report said.
According to the report, 10 contracts totaling N1.136 billion were awarded to a single proprietor in the name of different companies.
In the companies’ profiles, the contact phone numbers and email addresses of the three companies were the same.
The three companies did not disclose their relationship in accordance with the fundamental principles of procurement as required by extant regulation, the report said.
It further said that the sum of N924.985 million was paid for 11 contracts involving construction of three units of Gunshot Spotter System, supply of 50 units of Ballistic Roller Trolley and 20 units of Ballistic Mobile Surveillance House in some selected Commands and Formations. Final payments were made in March 2019 without evidence of execution. Documents such as end user certificate, store receipt voucher (SRV), store issue voucher (SIV), job completion certificate were not presented for audit examination.
According to the report, the items claimed to have been constructed/supplied at the Force Headquarters, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command, explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) unit and (PMF unit as specified in the award letters revealed that the contracts had not been executed by the time of physical verification of the purported items in June 2020.
Consequently, the auditor-general’s office asked the police force to explain why contracts were awarded to companies owned by same persons.
The audit also revealed illegal deduction of N62.2 billion by the Nigeria Customs Service in one year.
In the report of NCS’ summary of monthly revenue collection in 2017, total collections for federation account were N691,266,115,031.44 billion.
