By A SecretsReporters scrutiny of the official payment records of the Nigeria Police Force has shown that in the final weeks of Usman Alkali Baba as Inspector-General of Police, one vehicle dealer, Chukwuebuka Automobiles, collected N4,874,055,115.75 in twelve payments between 12 May and 6 June 2023, while a fuel supplier, Xtreme Energy Limited, collected N1,091,816,558.12 in a single day.
Baba took office on 6 April 2021 as acting Inspector-General of Police under President Muhammadu Buhari and was confirmed in the substantive post that June. On 19 June 2023, President Bola Tinubu retired him and appointed Kayode Egbetokun in his place. Every payment in this report landed between 10 May and 6 June 2023, inside those final weeks, the last of them thirteen days before he left office.
Five payments in a single day
On 12 May 2023, five payments went out to Chukwuebuka Automobiles, three of N258,526,790.00 and two of N256,504,696.98, each one described as payment for two Toyota Prado 2023 vehicles and one turreted Toyota Hilux gun truck configured to the specification of the Nigeria Police Force, for the North-West, North-Central, South-South and South-West zones and for Force Headquarters, Abuja.
One of the five vouchers, the one for Force Headquarters, Abuja, names a single Hilux gun truck in its description and nothing else, yet it carries the full price charged on the vouchers that named two Prados beside the truck.
The same day, the Force paid Stargro Nigeria Limited N260,380,000 for the same package of two Prados and one Hilux, and Assiamarz Nig Ltd N262,025,000 for two Prados with a communications gadget, a template price running across dealers on a single day.
Twenty-five gun trucks in two days
On 18 May 2023, four payments went to the same dealer, each for five Toyota Hilux gun trucks fitted with a GPMG turret and communications gadget, for the North-West, North-East and South-West zones and for Force Headquarters, Abuja. A fifth payment followed on 19 May 2023 for five more gun trucks for the South-East zone, N1,288,589,763.96 across the two days for twenty-five gun trucks.
Fifty-two gun trucks, thirteen days to go
On 6 June 2023, the dealer collected N1,194,363,028.52 for 26 Hilux gun trucks for Force Headquarters, Abuja, and N1,102,512,559.31 for another 26 for Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos. Fifty-two gun trucks were paid for in a single day, thirteen days before Baba left office.
The diesel day
Two days before the vehicle payments began, on 10 May 2023, Xtreme Energy Limited received four payments of N209,930,418.60 each, every one of them described as the supply of 160,000 litres of AGO, diesel, 640,000 litres in all, N839,721,674.40 for diesel alone. The same day, the same company received N252,094,883.72 for 600,000 litres of PMS, petrol.
Two of the four diesel vouchers are described in identical terms, as diesel for the commands and formations of the North-West zone. The records do not show whether one supply was billed twice over or two separate supplies were delivered to the same zone on the same day, and they carry no delivery note, no store receipt and no receiving officer for any of the four. On the records’ own litre figures, the diesel was priced at N1,312.07 per litre and the petrol at N420.16 per litre.
Eight days later, on 18 May 2023, a fifth diesel voucher in the same sum went to Xtreme Energy Limited, described as 160,000 litres for the North-East commands and formations.
Section 16 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 makes value for money and fairness the test of every procurement, section 25 requires procurements to sit inside an approved procurement plan backed by appropriation, and section 43 permits emergency procurement only within narrow limits. The Financial Regulations require delivery to be evidenced before public money is certified for payment. The payment records carry the payments in full and the delivery evidence for none of them.
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