Posted by Samuel on Fri 13th Dec, 2024 - tori.ng
In the report, the Governor Mohammed-led government spent a total of N6,042,188,850.35 on “renovation, expansion and furnishing of Government House Bauchi”.
A copy of the 2024 state budget performance report obtained by SaharaReporters has revealed that the Governor Bala Mohammed-led Bauchi State government spent over N6 billion within 9 months on the renovation of the government house.
The report was posted on the state government's website.
In the report, the Governor Mohammed-led government spent a total of N6,042,188,850.35 on “renovation, expansion and furnishing of Government House Bauchi”.
However, an earlier review of the Bauchi State audited report for 2023 by SaharaReporters showed the governor spent N16billion on renovation of same government house.
The money was spent in the fiscal year of 2023 while the fresh N6 billion was captured in the 2024 state budget performance report.
According to the 2023 auditors' report, the state government awarded the contract for upgrading of government house at the cost of N6.6billion to M/S Architectronix limited .
The audit report however noted that there was a contract variation of N9.5billion bringing the total contract sum to N16.1billion.
Contract variation occurs when two parties agree to carry out a contract different from the ways they have originally planned.
The revelations by the audit report of Bauchi state however negated what the state reported in its budget performance report for the fourth quarter of 2023, which represented January to December of the year.
According to the budget performance document, renovation and expansion of government house in Bauchi was approved for N6 billion and at the end of the year, the sum of N6 billion was spent already, representing 100% budget performance.
Going by the details of the budget performance report, the government reported that it approved N6 billion for the expansion and renovation of government house, while the audit report shows that N6.6 billion was actually awarded.
While the government noted that only N6 billion was spent at the end of the year, the audit report shows that N16 billion was spent, showing that the state failed to report the extra N10 billion spent in the report it dished in its budget performance.
According to details on the audit report, the state also failed to account for N23.1 million for one project vehicle it failed to buy.
This development comes amid calls for transparency and accountability in the management of government funds.
While Bauchi State spent N16billion on upgrading the government house, its internally generated revenue for same period of 2023, stood at N34.2 billion, meaning the state spent about 50% of its internally generated revenue in 2023 on upgrading the government house.