Corruption Mess: Minister Of Trade And Investment Indicted In N993,000 Hotel Corruption

Audit Report Reveals Undue Payment To Buhari’s Minister

The annual report by the Auditor-General of the Federation for 2016 has indicted another key Official of President Muhammadu Buhari,Okechukwu Enelamah, who is the  Minister of Trade and Investment,over a N993,000 accommodation allowance double payment mess.

Naija news learnt that the report revealed the controversial payment  was made to the minister after he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

auditor-general in his remarks who  frowned at the curious double payment and instructed the permanent secretary of the ministry of trade to recover the sum paid to Mr Enelamah and ensure that evidence of recovery is provided.

“Therefore,” the report said, “the payment of the sum of N993,195.00 (Nine hundred and ninety-three thousand, one hundred and ninety-five naira) to the hotel cannot be justified.” “In view of this, the payment of N993,195.00 for hotel accommodation and feeding of the Honourable Minister can not constitute a proper and legitimate charge against public funds. “The Permanent Secretary should recover the sum of N980,000.00 paid to the Honourable Minister in lieu of hotel accommodation and furnish evidence of recovery for my verification.”

From details contained in the report, it is unclear whether the permanent secretary complied with the auditor-general’s directive as no evidence of refund by the minister was captured in the report.

Naija News also understands the 2016 report, which contains details of financial records of federal government’s ministries, departments and agencies, is the latest from the Office of the Auditor-General.

It was released last month. Details of the report show that N993,195 was paid to a hotel in Maitama, Abuja, for the accommodation and feeding of the minister for the first days after his appointment.

The audit report noted, however, that the minister was also paid a separate N980,000 as his first days allowance in lieu of hotel accommodation.