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House of Representatives has unveiled plans to investigate over N2.5 billion alleged fraud perpetuated activities of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) in breach of the provisions of Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Recall that the House has last week mandated the Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways chaired by Patrick Asadu (PDP-Enugu) to commence investigation into serial allegations of financial impropriety against the registrar.
Speaking to a journalists in Abuja at the weekend,. Prestige Ossy (Abia-APGA), who sponsored the motion said the motion was prompted by the mind boggling allegations against the Registrar.
Explaining why the House mandated the committee to investigate CRFFN, Prestige said allegations against the Registrar were mind boggling.
According Ossy, who is a member of the committee on customs and excise “5% of the sum of N836,458,385.28 which was approved for the construction of 61 outpost offices was paid to the beneficiary companies as VAT instead of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
He said: “33 contracts were awarded under the guise of construction/provision of buildings’ at the sum of N418,113,198.56 without due process and to some cities that have no relevance to port or border operations, and 5% of this sum was paid as VAT to the beneficiary companies.”
“The House is aware of the fact that apart from the aforementioned financial infractions, the registrar/chief execution officer of the CRFFN was also alleged to be involved in several other financial scandals which include unilateral approval of an undisclosed sum for the purchase of two Toyota Land Cruisers and 50 Toyota Hilux vans but purchased only one Land cruiser and ten Hilux vans, and diverted the rest of the funds.
“The registrar diverted the sum of N35 million meant for the opening of Micro Finance Bank for Freight Forwarders, rented his own personal house as office of CRFFN in Abuja for an undisclosed sum.”
He expressed worry that the way and manner these sums were expended shows financial recklessness and manifestation of incompetence on the part of the registrar.
Speaking further, Prestige alleged that the registrar clandestinely recruited over 100 staff without due process, and promoted some unqualified staff as directors and unilaterally sacked or suspended some and recruited additional 21 other staff without due process.
He noted that the sum of N3,942,709,857 was approved for both capital and recurrent expenditures for CRFFN in the 2017 Appropriation Act 2017; a breakdown of this sum shows that the sum of N3.650 billion was for capital expenditure, while the sum of N292,709,857 was for recurrent expenditure.
“The House also notes that in the same financial year, CRFFN generated the sum of N14,124,888.77 out of the projected Internally Generated Revenue of N5,042,348,663; which clearly shows poor performance by any standards,” he stated.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
