FRSC boarded 101 vehicles that cost N703.91m for N19.95m with no valuation report, Auditor-General says; the 2026 Act gives it N10bn for new ones

In 2023 the Federal Road Safety Corps took 101 of its vehicles out of service and disposed of them. When they were bought they had cost N703,914,685.12. The Corps' own books carried them at N64,961,852.30. They were valued and boarded for N19,945,000.00, which is 2.83 per cent of what they cost and 30.70 per cent of their book value. That is the account given by the Auditor-General for the Federation in the second volume of the 2024 annual report on non-compliance. The auditors found no valuation report and no valuation certificate, and no evidence that qualified engineers had assessed the vehicles. Three years on, the 2026 Appropriation Act gives the Federal Road Safety Commission N10,000,000,000 for "towing trucks, ambulances, patrol/operational vehicles, motor bikes".

The Corps has a chapter of its own in the report, on pages 620 to 626, covering 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. It raises six issues. The third and largest is headed "Irregular boarding of unserviceable vehicles (N703,914,685.12)". The auditors write that "One hundred and one (101) vehicles of the Corps with year of purchase ranging between one (1) to nineteen (19) years, with purchased cost totaling N703,914,685.12 ... were boarded during the year 2023", and that "The carrying amount of the vehicles in 2023 was claimed to be N64,961,852.30 ... while it was valued and boarded for N19,945,000.00". Boarding is the civil service term for declaring an asset unserviceable and disposing of it, usually by auction.

Spread across the fleet, the figures give an average purchase cost of N6,969,452.33 a vehicle, an average book value of N643,186.66 and an average disposal value of N197,475.25. Book value and disposal value differ by N45,016,852.30. These are averages only. The report gives totals and no list of vehicles, so it does not show which vehicles fetched what, or how many of the 101 were near the one-year end of the age range rather than the nineteen-year end.

The item the auditors say is missing is the valuation. They quote paragraph 2965 of the Financial Regulations (2009): the accounting officer "shall cause a valuation report to be prepared by an independent evaluator or such professional with the appropriate competence" before property is listed for disposal. They then record that there was "no evidence to show that the valuation of the vehicles, including the historical cost and the carrying amount were done in accordance with the provisions of extant regulations"; no evidence of "qualified engineers or technical experts" or of a "Valuation Certificate before disposal"; and no "comprehensive valuation report that would typically outline the methodology, assumptions, and detailed calculations used to arrive at the estimated values". Without it, they write, the values could not be validated.

The Corps answered on page 623. "The Corps obtained the approval for the disposal of unserviceable vehicles from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation following Federal Road Safety Corps's compliance with Regulation 2622 of Financial regulation 2009 and proceeds of the auction were duly remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account. Revenue receipts are being processed with Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation." The auditors called the response "unsatisfactory" and held the finding open. They recommend that the Corps Marshal account to the Public Accounts Committees for the vehicles, "Produce the detailed Valuation Report and Valuation Certificate", and "Recover and return the vehicles to the Federal Road Safety Corps", failing which the sanction for gross misconduct in paragraph 3129 of the Financial Regulations should apply.

Parts of the record favour the Corps. The vehicles were boarded as unserviceable, and some were up to nineteen years old. A carrying amount is an accounting figure after depreciation, not a market price, and a vehicle that no longer runs can sell for less than its book value. The auditors do not dispute that the Accountant-General approved the disposal or that the proceeds were paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund; they neither confirm nor reject either statement. They give no valuation of their own, do not say what condition the vehicles were in, and do not name a buyer or an auctioneer. Their objection, as written, is to the absence of the valuation papers, which the Corps' response does not mention. News Express reported in December 2024, crediting Daily Trust, that an earlier audit report, for 2021, had queried the Corps for the opposite failing: leaving 54 unserviceable vehicles, ambulances and power bikes worth N98,508,850.00 undisposed. Vero Record did not obtain that report.

The Corps' accounts would ordinarily show the disposal, any loss on it and the receipt of the proceeds. The same chapter's first issue says the Corps did not submit its audited financial statements for 2022 or 2023 to the Auditor-General, and records "No response". Of the other issues, N21,803,531.17 of paid vouchers were not presented for audit, again with no response. N2,923,897.60 paid to the Kano State Sector Command was charged to the wrong subhead, which the Corps says it has corrected. N1,285,978.89 was paid in cash at the Katsina State Sector Command, which the Corps says it cannot avoid when funding its formations through staff, attaching evidence of payment. And N15,260,010.00 of fuel and stationery was not taken on ledger charge, which the Corps says was running cost, not stores. The six issues add to N745,188,102.78, of which the vehicles are 94.5 per cent.

The second document is the 2026 Appropriation Act. It gives the Federal Road Safety Commission, code 0161007001, N150,628,456,784: N99,737,554,653 for personnel, N26,964,914,587 for overheads and N23,925,987,544 for capital. Its project list, on pages 375 and 376, includes line ERGP20269738, "Provision of towing trucks, ambulances, patrol/operational vehicles, motor bikes (multiple lots)", at N10,000,000,000. Five further lines of N1,300,000,000 each, N6,500,000,000 in all, are for mass transit and public transport buses "to enhance regional trade", "boost tourism" and "create employment opportunities within communities". Another N5,000,000,000 is for a model training school in Bichi, Kano State. The overhead budget adds N1,100,000,000 for maintenance of motor vehicles and N1,500,873,691 for motor vehicle fuel.

The vehicle money is new. The 2025 Appropriation Act as passed gave the Commission N98,741,770,024, with capital of N3,465,696,492 spread over twelve projects, none of them for vehicles. In 2026 the same twelve projects reappear at 70 per cent of their 2025 amounts, N2,425,987,544 together. The bus, vehicle and Bichi lines, N21,500,000,000 in all, are added on top and marked "ONGOING", although none appears in the Commission's 2025 project list. Capital rose 6.9 times in a year.

The Act's own line-item table for the Commission has no line for buying vehicles. Its capital is split into N192,961,202 of fixed assets purchased (furniture and fittings, computers, a generating set and teaching equipment), N203,026,342 of software, and N23,530,000,000 under "Construction / provision of office buildings". The building projects in the list come to N2,030,000,000. Adding the N6,500,000,000 of buses, the N10,000,000,000 of vehicles and the N5,000,000,000 school gives exactly N23,530,000,000, so the vehicle and bus money is carried under the office buildings code. The Act does not explain the classification.

Set side by side, the two documents show the Commission receiving N10,000,000,000 for new operational vehicles in 2026, after a 2023 fleet disposal whose valuation papers the Auditor-General could not find, and for years in which, on the same report, the Corps had not submitted audited accounts. The report does not say the vehicles were sold below their worth; it says nobody showed the auditors how their worth was set. A web search by Vero Record on 2 November found no published valuation report, certificate or Public Accounts Committee hearing on the matter, and did not seek fresh comment from the Corps; its response is given here as the audit records it.

An audit query is not a finding of wrongdoing, and no court or committee has made one here. The documents do not establish what the 101 vehicles were, what state they were in, who bought them, through which auctioneer, or at what price each. They do not show whether the N19,945,000.00 reached the Consolidated Revenue Fund, whether the Corps has since produced the valuation report, or whether the National Assembly has considered the query. Nor do they show how the 2026 vehicle money will be spent or whether any of it has been released.

What this rests on

Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance (Internal Control Weakness), Vol. II, Federal Road Safety Corps, Abuja, Issues 1 to 6, report pp.620 to 626 (PDF pp.185 to 191), period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023, read from the page images; Issue 3 at pp.622 to 623. 2026 Appropriation Act, Federal Road Safety Commission code 0161007001, summary p.368, line items pp.373 to 375, projects pp.375 to 376. 2025 Appropriation Act as passed, same code, pp.358 and 363 to 366. All read for this report. Arithmetic re-done: N19,945,000.00 / N703,914,685.12 = 2.83%; N19,945,000.00 / N64,961,852.30 = 30.70%; N64,961,852.30 / N703,914,685.12 = 9.23%; N64,961,852.30 - N19,945,000.00 = N45,016,852.30; N703,914,685.12 - N19,945,000.00 = N683,969,685.12; averages over 101 vehicles: N703,914,685.12 / 101 = N6,969,452.33, N64,961,852.30 / 101 = N643,186.66, N19,945,000.00 / 101 = N197,475.25. Six FRSC issues: N21,803,531.17 + N703,914,685.12 + N2,923,897.60 + N1,285,978.89 + N15,260,010.00 = N745,188,102.78 (Issue 1 carries no figure); N703,914,685.12 / N745,188,102.78 = 94.5%. 2026 Act: N99,737,554,653 + N26,964,914,587 + N23,925,987,544 = N150,628,456,784. 2026 projects: N66,150,000 + N6,650,000 + N483,000,000 + N336,000,000 + N112,000,000 + N469,000,000 + N56,000,000 + N609,000,000 + N21,000,000 + N21,181,202 + N42,980,000 + N203,026,342 = N2,425,987,544; plus 5 x N1,300,000,000 = N6,500,000,000, N10,000,000,000 and N5,000,000,000 = N21,500,000,000; total N23,925,987,544 (matches TOTAL CAPITAL). Economic codes: N56,000,000 + N64,161,202 (= N21,181,202 + N42,980,000) + N66,150,000 + N6,650,000 = N192,961,202 fixed assets purchased; building projects N483,000,000 + N336,000,000 + N112,000,000 + N469,000,000 + N609,000,000 + N21,000,000 = N2,030,000,000; N2,030,000,000 + N6,500,000,000 + N10,000,000,000 + N5,000,000,000 = N23,530,000,000 (matches code 23020101); N192,961,202 + N23,530,000,000 + N203,026,342 = N23,925,987,544. 2025 Act projects: N94,500,000 + N9,500,000 + N690,000,000 + N480,000,000 + N160,000,000 + N670,000,000 + N80,000,000 + N870,000,000 + N30,000,000 + N30,258,860 + N61,400,000 + N290,037,632 = N3,465,696,492 (matches TOTAL CAPITAL); N3,465,696,492 x 0.7 = N2,425,987,544.4, the Act shows N2,425,987,544; each carried project is 0.70 of its 2025 amount (for example N94,500,000 x 0.7 = N66,150,000; N870,000,000 x 0.7 = N609,000,000). N23,925,987,544 / N3,465,696,492 = 6.90. Vehicle overheads 2026: N1,100,000,000 + N1,500,873,691 = N2,600,873,691.

What this does not establish

Whether any vehicle was sold below its worth; the audit gives no valuation of its own and no list of vehicles, buyers, auctioneer or individual prices. The condition of the vehicles. Whether the Accountant-General approved the disposal and whether the N19,945,000.00 reached the Consolidated Revenue Fund; the Corps says so and the audit neither confirms nor rejects it. Whether the Corps has since produced the valuation report and certificate, and whether the Public Accounts Committees have considered the query. Why the 2026 Act carries the vehicle and bus lines under the office buildings code, why the new lines are marked ongoing, and whether any of the N10,000,000,000 has been released or spent. The 2021 audit query on 54 undisposed vehicles is known here only from a press report. The date the 2024 report was published was not checked. Vero Record did not seek fresh comment from the Corps. Nothing in the documents establishes wrongdoing by any person.