Senate has queried University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) over alleged fraud of N167 million.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Matthew Urhoghide relied on the 2016 Auditor General’s report to query mismanagement of public by the Teaching Hospital in the Kwara state.
The query uncovered how the teaching Hospital paid N63 million into the accounts of their officers to carry out procurement related activities and according to relevant guidelines it must not be N200,000.
Also in another query considered by the Committee on University Teaching Hospital, it was discovered that payment vouchers totaling N94 million were not supported with relevant documents.
The query reads, ” A total of N63,995,618.00 (Sixty-three million, nine hundred and ninety-five thousand, six hundred and eighteen naira) was paid to officers to carry out procurement-related activities, in excess of the approved limit of N200,000.00.
“Considering the amounts involved, relevant due process should have been followed by issuing Local Purchase Order or Job Order to contactors.
“The Management did not take into cognizance the provision of Circular No. TRY/A2 &B2/2009 of 24th March, 2009 which states that “All Accounting Officers and Officers controlling expenditure are to ensure that all local procurement of stores and services costing above N200,000.00 shall be made only through award of contract”. Responding, the Chief Medical Director craved my understanding that the nature of the hospital‟s operation may not permit strict compliance with the threshold, especially in emergency cases involving life.
” Nevertheless, several cases of abuse of internal controls were observed. For instance, the use of staff to purchase 13 laptop computers for N1,690,000.00 (One million, six hundred and ninety thousand naira) and the printing of 206 LPO Booklets and 800 Receipt booklets for N350,000.00 (Three hundred and fifty thousand naira) cannot be regarded as emergency. Besides, some of the documents presented to support the response appear not to be genuine, an indication that these expenditures were not incurred in the interest of government.
“The Chief Medical Director was requested to provide authentic documents to justify these expenditures or recover the amounts involved from the payees.
“Payment vouchers for amounts totaling N94,061,869.55 (Ninety-four million, sixty-one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine naira, fifty-five kobo) were not adequately supported with relevant documents such as evidence of expenditure, request memos, Store Receipt Vouchers etc to authenticate the payments made.
“The practice is contrary to Financial Regulation 603(i). It was therefore difficult to accept the payments as legitimate charges against public funds.
“The Chief Medical Director was asked to provide explanations for the above stated violation and produce the relevant documents for further audit verification. Responding, the Chief Medical Director asserted that the Accounting system in place at the hospital does not allow any payment to be made without all relevant documents attached.
“However, he still did not produce the documents for my inspection. He was asked to kindly produce the documents for my scrutiny, otherwise, the expenditures totalling N94,061,869.55 (Ninety-four million, sixty-one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine naira, fifty-five kobo) will not be accepted as legitimate charges against public funds.
“The Management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital could not produce the monthly, quarterly and half yearly Internal Audit reports for 2015, despite persistent demand for the records.
“The report provided by the Internal Audit Unit was a scanty yearly report. Financial Regulation 1706 requires that “the Internal Auditor shall prepare and produce monthly, quarterly and half yearly reports to the Accounting Officer on the progress of the audit with copies to the Accountant-General and the Auditor-General”.
“It is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer to ensure that a functional Internal Audit unit is in place as the Unit is critical to the internal control processes of any organization. The Chief Medical Director was asked to forward future Internal Audit Reports to my Office, as required by the Regulations. In his response dated 25th April, 2017, the Chief Medical Director promised to ensure compliance with the regulations.
” However, the Internal Audit Reports have not been received, even up until the time of finalizing this report. He should comply with the provision of the Financial Regulation. ”
But, Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Professor Abdullahi Yussuf, who was appointed in 2018 was unable to give convince reason for the mismanagement of the fund before the Senate Panel.
He told the Committee that since the time as CMD of the Hospital things have changed .
