Uromi construction institute gave "No response" to 12 audit queries, led by N9.94bn of constituency contracts; 2026 Act gives it N11.76bn for projects

The Auditor-General for the Federation has asked the National Institute of Construction Technology and Management in Uromi, Edo State, to account for N9,936,386,501.83 of constituency project contracts it awarded in 2023. The auditors could not inspect the projects, because the institute did not arrange it, and found no evidence that the contracts were carried out. Where the report prints the institute's answer to that query, and to each of the eleven others raised against it, it says: "No response." The 2026 Appropriation Act gives the same institute N11,756,144,933 for capital projects. Of the 39 project lines behind that figure, 31, worth N11,016,765,263, are for street lights, boreholes, classrooms, markets, health centres and equipment in communities and constituencies, from Kano and Kaduna to Cross River and Rivers.

The query is in Volume II of the Auditor-General's 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance, which covers the institute's books for 1 January to 31 December 2023 (pages 482 to 494). Issue 12 is headed "Payment for contracts not executed". The auditors record that "The Institute awarded contracts totaling N9,936,386,501.83 (Nine billion, nine hundred and thirty six million, three hundred and eighty six thousand, five hundred and one naira, eighty three kobo) for zonal intervention/constituency projects during the period under review, covering constructions, installations, training, and empowerment programmes." They add that "Physical verification of the projects could not be carried out, as the Institute did not make the necessary arrangement for audit inspection and monitoring", and that there was no evidence the contracts were executed, "as audit was unable to confirm implementation through inspection and evaluation" (page 494).

An audit query is not a finding of wrongdoing, and nothing in this report has been tested by a court. It is a demand that the accounting officer explain. The report asks the Rector to account for the sum to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly, to recover and remit it to the Treasury and to send evidence of remittance, failing which sanctions under paragraphs 3106 and 3115 of the Financial Regulations (2009) "should apply". The wording of Issue 12 also needs care. Its heading and its first recommendation speak of payment for contracts not executed, but the description of findings says the contracts were awarded and that the auditors could not confirm implementation. The report does not say how much of the N9.94 billion had been paid by the end of 2023, and it does not say any project was found to be missing. It says the auditors were unable to look.

Eleven other queries sit in the same section. Under Issue 10, the institute "awarded construction contracts under the 2023 CP/ZIP funds totaling N8,665,719,082.00" with no evidence of advertisement, competitive bidding or evaluation, and no evidence of work done because the documents "were not provided for audit" (page 491). Issue 5 records N1,419,094,986.47 paid for training and empowerment of youths and women without distribution lists or other evidence of use (pages 486 and 487). Among the others, Issue 9 covers N586,056,872.62 paid to ten contractors without evidence of due process; Issue 11 covers N684,406,617.74 of store items, among them tricycles, generators, inverters, motorcycles and a Hilux van, with no store receipt vouchers; Issue 1 covers cash advances of N467,765,614.00 above the N200,000 limit; and Issue 8 covers N142,884,444.00 paid to ten contractors above their contract sums. These sums should not be added together. Issues 10 and 12 both concern 2023 constituency contracts, and Issue 5 may overlap with the training and empowerment part of Issue 12; the report does not say whether they do.

One query shows the scale of the constituency money that passed through the institute. Under Issue 4, the auditors found that "The sum of N760,606,677.94 ... representing 5% administrative charges, was deducted at source from funds released to the Institute for Zonal Intervention/Constituency Projects", with no evidence of authority or approval for the deduction (page 485). If N760,606,677.94 is exactly 5 per cent, the releases it was taken from came to N15,212,133,558.80. That figure is Vero Record's arithmetic, not the audit's: the report does not state the amount released or the dates of the releases.

For every one of the 12 issues, the paragraph headed "Management's Response" reads "No response.", and the auditors' evaluation reads: "Since the Management failed to respond to the issue raised, the findings remain valid until the Management implements the recommendations." The National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency, whose five queries are printed immediately before the institute's, has a written answer recorded under each, including answers that accept the auditors' point. Vero Record did not find any response by the institute to the report published elsewhere.

The second record is the 2026 Appropriation Act, which lists the institute under the Federal Ministry of Education with code 0517018024. It gives the institute N13,637,256,463 in total: N1,595,544,962 for personnel, N285,566,568 for overhead and N11,756,144,933 for capital (pages 1818 and 1905). Capital is 86.2 per cent of the total. The capital sum is broken down into 39 project lines on pages 1905 to 1907, every one of them marked "ONGOING". Vero Record added the 39 amounts; they come to N11,756,144,933, the capital total to the naira.

Eight of the 39 lines name no place outside the institute. They add up to N739,379,670: three motor vehicles (N245,000,000), earth-moving machines (N175,000,000), a road network in the institute (N105,000,000), drainage, walkways and landscaping (N70,000,000), solar street lights (N47,079,670), perimeter fencing for phase 2 of the permanent site (N45,500,000), an auto diagnostic workshop (N35,000,000) and a bungalow for lecture rooms (N16,800,000). The other 31 lines, N11,016,765,263 or 93.7 per cent of the capital vote, name communities, local governments, constituencies or senatorial districts. Thirteen are in Edo State and come to N3,473,967,763, including six in Owan Federal Constituency worth N2,590,000,000 (town halls and markets at N700,000,000 each, two primary health care centres at N350,000,000 each, boreholes at N350,000,000 and a maternity centre at N140,000,000) and N50,000,000 of street lights in Uromi itself.

The other 18 lines, N7,542,797,500, lie outside Edo. The largest are N1,000,000,000 for "mobility and security apparatus to securities, religious and community leaders in Kano South Senatorial District", N1,000,000,000 for irrigation pumping machines for farmers in Kaduna State, N600,000,000 of solar street lights across Kaduna Central, two South West solar street light lines of N1,400,000,000 and N700,000,000, and N1,400,000,000 of solar street lights in government schools "in Asa and Olaparun". Smaller lines include deep freezers and generator sets for women and youths in Kano Central (N140,000,000), the completion of a police station in Osun West (N70,000,000), boreholes and classrooms in Gombi/Hong Federal Constituency, Adamawa State (N750,000,000 together), and school furniture in Rivers and Imo.

The two records cannot be joined line by line. The audit names no project, contractor or location for the N9.94 billion, so it is not possible to say whether any of the 2026 lines marked ongoing are the projects the auditors could not inspect. The Act does not say who proposed each line, and it does not explain why a construction training institute in Edo is the executing body for security equipment in Kano or irrigation pumps in Kaduna. What the two documents show together is an institute that did not account to the auditors for its 2023 constituency contracts, and that holds in 2026 a capital vote more than six times its combined personnel and overhead budget, almost all of it for projects of the same kind.

The record also has points in the institute's favour. The audit is a record of missing documents and missing answers; it does not find that money was stolen, and it says in terms that its auditors did not visit the sites. Its own figures need care: in Issue 3 the report describes consultancy payments of N104,625,412.96 and then recommends recovery of N104,925,412.96 (page 485). Part of the 2026 capital vote is for the institute's own campus, which was photographed in 2021 behind a sign reading "Temporary site", and this year's budget includes fencing for the permanent site. The report does not say why the institute gave no response, and a failure to answer an auditor is a failure to account, not proof of loss.

The audit asks for the matter to go to the Public Accounts Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Vero Record did not find a public record of either committee taking evidence on this section of the 2024 report. The documents that would settle the query are the ones the auditors asked for: the list of 2023 constituency contracts and contractors, the payment vouchers, the certificates of completion and access to the sites.

What this rests on

Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance (Internal Control Weakness), Vol. II, section on the National Institute of Construction Technology and Management, Uromi, pages 482 to 494 (PDF pages 47 to 59), period 1 January to 31 December 2023, read from page images; key passages checked by eye on rendered pages: Issue 1 (p.482), Issues 3 and 4 (p.485), Issues 9 and 10 (p.491), Issues 11 and 12 (pp.493 and 494). National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency section, pp.476 to 482, for comparison of recorded responses. 2026 Appropriation Act, summary of Federal Ministry of Education parastatals (p.1818), NICTM detail and project list (pp.1905 to 1907). Arithmetic re-done: Act N1,595,544,962 + N285,566,568 = N1,881,111,530 recurrent; + N11,756,144,933 capital = N13,637,256,463; capital share 11,756,144,933 / 13,637,256,463 = 86.2%; capital / recurrent = 11,756,144,933 / 1,881,111,530 = 6.25. The 39 project lines add to N11,756,144,933. Eight lines naming no outside place: 245,000,000 + 175,000,000 + 105,000,000 + 70,000,000 + 47,079,670 + 45,500,000 + 35,000,000 + 16,800,000 = N739,379,670. Remaining 31 lines: 11,756,144,933 - 739,379,670 = N11,016,765,263 (93.7%). Edo, 13 lines: 350,000,000 + 35,000,000 + 140,000,000 + 105,000,000 + 53,967,763 + 150,000,000 = 833,967,763; Owan six lines 700,000,000 + 350,000,000 + 700,000,000 + 350,000,000 + 140,000,000 + 350,000,000 = 2,590,000,000; Uromi 50,000,000; Edo total N3,473,967,763. Outside Edo, 18 lines: Cross River 7,000,000 + 105,000,000 + 28,000,000 = 140,000,000; Rivers 17,500,000 + 105,297,500 = 122,797,500; South West 1,400,000,000 + 700,000,000 = 2,100,000,000; Asa and Olaparun 1,400,000,000; Imo 70,000,000; Kano 140,000,000 + 1,000,000,000 = 1,140,000,000; Osun 70,000,000; Kaduna 600,000,000 + 1,000,000,000 + 100,000,000 + 50,000,000 = 1,750,000,000; Adamawa 300,000,000 + 450,000,000 = 750,000,000; total N7,542,797,500. Check: 3,473,967,763 + 7,542,797,500 = 11,016,765,263. Implied releases behind Issue 4: 760,606,677.94 / 0.05 = N15,212,133,558.80 (Vero Record's derivation; the audit gives no base). Issue amounts are quoted, not summed, because Issues 10, 12 and possibly 5 may overlap.

What this does not establish

How much of the N9,936,386,501.83 had actually been paid by 31 December 2023; the audit says the contracts were awarded and calls the issue payment for contracts not executed, without giving a paid figure. Whether any project was or was not executed: the auditors did not inspect, and Vero Record did not visit any site. Which projects, contractors and locations the N9.94bn covers; the audit names none, so the 2023 contracts cannot be matched to the 2026 lines. Whether Issues 5, 10 and 12 overlap. The actual amount and dates of constituency releases to the institute in 2023; N15.21bn is derived from the 5 per cent figure. Why the institute did not respond, and whether it has since given documents to the auditors or to the Public Accounts Committees. Who proposed the 2026 project lines and why the institute was chosen to execute them; the Act does not say. Which state the "Asa and Olaparun" line refers to. The institute's Rector is not named in the audit. Nothing in this report suggests that any person has committed a crime; no court has made any such finding.