Ayuba, the Present Acting Accountant General of Taraba State Government
was subpoenaed to establish this fact and also tendered Published Reports
from the Office of the Accountant General of Taraba State. According to him,
in the absence of Audit Queries, and no anomalies in the Payment Process,
certain salient points shoot out. He noted that the Payee who spent the
Monies collected,is the only person to explain the expenditure.
Further, the Audit Query as narrated by this Witness, is certainly porous, as
the Acting Accountant General could not guarantee the fact that the Audit
Query could capture instances such as Overhead Cost, Ghost Workers,
Failure to Implement Projects, Diversion of Funds, Non-Procurement of
Goods and Services, etc. Assuming the function of the Internal Audit
Accounting Officer of the Ministry of Finance and the External Audit
Accounting Officer from the Auditor General of Taraba State is simply to PreAudit and Post-Audit Payment Vouchers, then this is not good enough. The
Central Stores Division is accountable for what it receives in its Stores, as the
Monetary Cost of Stationeries and Office Equipment are inventoried and
documented by it. Therefore, the Audit should have also been extended to
the Central Stores.
The evidence led showed that the Stationeries and Office Equipment worth
Two Hundred, and Fifty Million Naira (N250, 000, 0000) were never
supplied, so what was to be audited?
PW7, Mrs. Asabe Maiangwa, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Finance, had stated in Exhibit U1, her Extra-Judicial Statement to the EFCC
dated the 16th of November 2005, she explained the Sharing Formula to also
include the Auditor General of Taraba State in the person of Mr. Illiya
Wanapiya, who collected the Sum of Three Million Naira to share with
his boys. In other words, the Auditor General and his Boys collected Hush
Monies, thereby blinding their eyes in the course of conducting their Audit
Responsibility in the Ministry of Finance.
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