FAAN Spends N199.6m on Staff Professional Subscriptions Despite 2009 Government Directive

Secrets Reporters

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) spent N199,605,849.86 on professional subscriptions and certifications for its staff despite a Federal Government directive issued in 2009 prohibiting Ministries, Departments and Agencies from bearing such costs, an audit report has revealed.

The expenditure covered professional programmes and annual subscriptions including MCPD, MCPED, ACMA and IOD for FAAN staff.

According to the audit, the payments were discovered during an examination of the authority’s payment vouchers relating to professional subscriptions.

The auditors said the expenditure contravened Federal Treasury Circular No. HCSF/PSO/784/III/2 dated January 23, 2009, which directed that attendance of courses leading to professional qualifications should be at the expense of the individual officers.

The circular was issued after the Federal Government observed that some MDAs were paying for professional courses attended by their employees.

It consequently directed that MDAs should no longer pay course fees or allowances for officers attending training programmes arranged or sanctioned by their respective professional bodies.

Despite the directive, the audit found that FAAN continued to use public funds to pay for professional subscriptions and certifications for its employees.

N199.6m Spent on Staff

The N199,605,849.86 identified by the auditors represents money spent by FAAN on the professional development-related expenses of its staff.

The audit did not provide a detailed breakdown of the amount paid to each employee or the number of officers who benefited from the payments.

However, it identified the professional programmes and subscriptions covered by the expenditure and concluded that the payments were made despite the existing government directive.

The issue is not whether the professional qualifications were useful to FAAN or whether the employees required them for their work.

Rather, the audit questioned why public funds were used to pay for them when the Federal Government had expressly directed that such expenses should be borne by the individual officers.

This raises questions about the financial controls within the agency and the processes through which the payments were approved.

Who Approved the Payments?

The audit has now placed responsibility on the Managing Director to explain why the 2009 Treasury Circular was disregarded.

The auditors also questioned why taxpayers’ money was spent without regard to existing government regulations and circulars.

The concern goes beyond the N199.6 million itself.

If an existing Federal Government directive had already prohibited MDAs from paying for these professional qualifications, the relevant officials responsible for processing and approving the payments should ordinarily have identified the restriction before public funds were released.

The audit therefore raises questions about whether the circular was known to the officials involved, whether the payments were subjected to adequate financial compliance checks and why the expenditure continued despite the directive.

Auditors Demand N199.6m Recovery

The auditors described the disregard of the directive as gross wastage of government funds and recommended that the N199,605,849.86 be recovered from the various officers who benefited from the payments.

The Managing Director was also asked to provide evidence of the recovery for audit confirmation.

The recommendation means FAAN would need to identify the beneficiaries and establish how much was paid on behalf of each officer before the recovery can be properly accounted for.

The audit finding does not allege that the affected staff committed fraud by participating in professional programmes.

Instead, it identifies the payment of their professional subscriptions by FAAN as expenditure contrary to the Federal Government’s existing directive.

The distinction is important because the central question is whether the agency had the authority to use public funds for the expenses.

Questions for FAAN

The audit leaves several questions requiring answers.

Why did FAAN continue paying professional subscriptions for staff despite the 2009 Treasury Circular?

How many employees benefited from the N199.6 million expenditure?

How much was paid on behalf of each officer?

Who authorised the payments?

Were the payments subjected to financial and legal compliance checks?

And, most importantly, will the N199,605,849.86 be recovered as recommended by the auditors?

For an agency responsible for managing critical airport infrastructure and operations, the findings raise concerns about adherence to government financial regulations.

The Federal Government had already established its position in 2009: professional courses leading to qualifications and related subscriptions were to be paid for by the officers themselves.

Yet, according to the audit, FAAN spent almost N200 million on such expenses.

The matter now rests with the agency’s management to explain the decision to disregard the directive and demonstrate whether the expenditure can be justified.

Where it cannot, the auditors have recommended a clear remedy: recovery of the N199.6 million from the beneficiaries and submission of evidence showing that the money has been returned.