By Secrets Reporters
A another cluster of findings in a 2020 report on the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations focuses on systemic compliance failures, smaller but persistent financial irregularities, and restrictions on audit access during the 2019 financial year. The period largely coincided with the leadership of pioneer Director-General Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe until his death in September 2019, after which the office functioned under interim arrangements.
From its establishment in 2017 through 2019, the agency never submitted audited financial statements to the Auditor-General’s office, contrary to Financial Regulation 3210(v). The absence impeded Public Accounts Committee oversight and sound governance. Management pointed to Take-off Grant accounting through the Treasury Single Account and the availability of trial balances on GIFMIS, yet the Auditor-General directed the submission of the outstanding statements under threat of sanctions in Regulation 3129.
Procurement of ICT facilities worth ₦41.90 million proceeded without the National Information Technology Development Agency approval mandated by Establishment Circular Ref. 59736/S.2/C.II/125 of 31 August 2018. Auditors noted risks of non-delivery or substandard equipment. Capacity-building payments of ₦18.50 million for the Internal Audit and Human Resources departments, both dated 27 December 2019, lacked award letters, attendance registers or completion certificates, violating Regulations 708, 603(i) and 415. Management offered only that the expenditure had been provided for in the Appropriation; recovery was recommended.
Stamp duty of ₦1.28 million due on 2019 contracts was never remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Management attributed the omission to the absence of a third-party stamp-duty field on the GIFMIS platform at the time, an explanation the Auditor-General did not accept as sufficient. Two administrative advances totalling ₦3.70 million showed irregularities in the retirement receipts submitted for audit, engaging Treasury Circular TRY/A7&B7/2015 and Regulations 2302(ii) and 1420.
Recruitment of eight staff in 2019 proceeded without evidence of Federal Character Commission clearance, a Head of Civil Service waiver, Budget Office approval or Federal Civil Service Commission representation, contrary to Establishment Circular Ref. 58775/II/T/358 of 11 July 2017. Management claimed a waiver existed for functional trade-negotiation staff, but auditors directed that all supporting documents be forwarded to the Public Accounts Committees.
Most fundamentally, the agency failed to produce its 2019 audited financial statement, 2018–2019 payroll and payslips, correspondence with the Accountant-General, staff files, assets register, tax-deduction file and obsolete-items list. The denial of access engaged Section 85(2) of the 1999 Constitution and Financial Regulations 601 and 708. Management insisted that records had been made available during a three-week audit visit; the Auditor-General nevertheless required justification and the forwarding of the withheld documents, again under Regulation 3129.
These seven findings reveal an institution whose internal controls and transparency obligations lagged behind its high-profile mandate. The combination of missing audited accounts, unapproved ICT procurement, undocumented capacity-building spending, irregular recruitment and restricted audit access left significant gaps in accountability for public funds during a critical phase of Nigeria’s trade-policy development.
