The Federal Government said on Thursday that it had ordered an audit of the payroll of the Army, Navy and Airforce.
The investigation according to the federal ministry of finance became imperative following revelations in the course of the trial of a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the sum of N558.2m was allegedly diverted monthly from the Nigeria Air Force account into private pockets.
It said in a statement signed by the Director, Information in the ministry Salisu Dambatta that the directive for the investigation which was given by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun would be carried out by the Continuous Audit Team of the Federal Government.
The Continuous Audit team, it stated has been charged with the responsibility of scrutinising the payrolls of the three services, which have not yet been put on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System to ensure that all possible loopholes that could lead to leakages were blocked.
The statement reads in part, “Following revelations in the course of the trial of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the sum of N558.2m was allegedly diverted monthly from the Nigeria Air Force account into private pockets, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has directed an investigation into the payrolls of the Air Force, the Navy and the Army by the Continuous Audit Team of the Federal Government.
“The exercise will be conducted pending the biometric capturing and migrating the payroll of the three services to the IPPIS, in line with the policy of the Federal Government to clean up the payroll of all public sector employees.”
The Minister of Finance said that the measure had become necessary as part of the resolve of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, to restore the culture of transparency, accountability and control in the management of public funds.
“The Continuous Audit Process was one of the initiatives of the Minister approved by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of the on-going reforms in the public finance management system of the federal government, which he emphasised in his 2016 budget speech,” it added.
The statement said the Director of Special Projects in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa, will head the Continuous Audit Team and report its findings for appropriate action by the Federal Government.
