Audit observed that amounts totalling N202,620,467.00 was granted as payments to Travel Agencies for purported provision of flight tickets to officers of the Ministry who embarked on various trips to Nigerian Missions abroad. This money was confirmed as not appropriated for in the year under review. These payments were also made without adequate supporting documents.
(a) An in-depth examination of cash books and some of the payment vouchers revealed that some of the payments were made to ‘Travel Agencies’ for the provision of flight tickets to officers who embarked on various trips abroad and also to officers whom were recently posted out to Missions abroad. These payments under normal circumstances were seen to have been budgeted for, in the approved Local Travels and Tours of the Appropriation of the Ministry during the period under review (1st January 2016 to 5th May 2017), but contrary was the case.
(b) It was also gathered that parts of the payments made to the Travel Agencies were purported claims of Outstanding Liabilities of previous years, which these Travel Agencies presented in respect of flight tickets to the Ministry. No evidences such as proposals and approvals for the journeys, copies of tickets and tickets bookings with electronic reference numbers, evidences of documentations of the travellers, authority to incur debts with Travel Agencies, data of travellers and any other relevant information on the journeys claimed to have been embarked on, on behalf of the nation; were seen in the files presented to us for examination.
(c) Also evidences of the registration and the fees paid by these Travel Agencies to provide these services to the Ministry ware not seen and therefore required to be provided for verification.
(d) The documents indicating proper awards of the contracts for the provision of these services by these Travel Agencies in accordance with the extant rules and regulations contained in the 2007 Procurement Act were also missing and ought to have been provided for audit examination