Abuja — A shocking audit report exclusively obtained by The News Chronicle has revealed that the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has a staggering sum of ₦326,065,638.00 trapped in two defunct banks, raising serious concerns about the organization’s financial management.
The audit, which covered the period from January 2019 to December 2020, unearthed a gaping hole in the Fund’s internal control system, leading to the non-recovery of these substantial public funds. According to the report, the PTDF invested the colossal sum in two defunct deposit money banks: Trade Bank (now taken over by United Bank for Africa) and CITY Express Bank.
A breakdown of the trapped funds shows that ₦227,341,805.00 was deposited in Trade Bank, while the remaining ₦98,723,833.00 was tied up in CITY Express Bank. The banking licenses of both institutions were revoked in 2006 due to their failure to recapitalize, among other issues.
The audit report, a scathing indictment of the PTDF’s financial oversight, highlights that despite the banks’ closure, the ₦326,065,638.00 had not been recovered as of November 2021, when the audit was finalized. This discovery brings to light a potential financial mismanagement crisis that could be the tip of the iceberg.
The report attributed this anomaly to “weaknesses in the internal control system” at the PTDF. The auditors warned of significant risks, including the “loss of public funds” and “ineffective management of public funds,” painting a grim picture of the Fund’s financial health.
In a dramatic turn of events, the report notes that there was “No response” from the PTDF’s management when confronted with these findings. The auditors, therefore, concluded that the findings remain valid, and the recommendations stand until they are implemented by the management.
The auditors laid out a clear path forward, asking the Executive Secretary of the PTDF to justify the failure to recover the funds to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly. They further recommended that the PTDF should recover and remit the entire sum of ₦326,065,638.00 to the Treasury.
The audit report also recommended that the PTDF should forward evidence of this remittance to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly. As a final recourse, the auditors stipulated that sanctions relating to the failure to manage funds effectively, as prescribed in paragraph 3115 of the Financial Regulations (FR), 2009, should apply.
