In a recent development, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has raised concerns over the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) failure to receive a new aircraft, despite reportedly paying over N1 billion to an Israeli-based company in 2010.
The Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF) revealed in a report that NEMA had paid a deposit of N1,054,222,576 to the Israeli company in 2010 but had not taken delivery of the aircraft even after a decade.
As of March 2020, an audit report submitted to the National Assembly on November 30, 2023, indicated that no aircraft had been supplied to the agency, and the deposit remained unrecovered.
NEMA purportedly obtained a judgment in a debt-recovery case, but the audit report accused the agency of mismanagement, highlighting the neglect of relief materials.
The report also shed light on financial irregularities within NEMA, revealing that the agency failed to deduct and remit about N19.2 million in Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Taxes (WHT) from payments related to relief materials and other services.
Additionally, it highlighted unaccounted funds, including N99.42 million in non-personal advances in 2018 and N47,974,375.87 from 2019.
SERAP, in response, called on NEMA to provide a detailed account of the funds paid for the aircraft in 2010. The organization warned of holding NEMA accountable should it fail to address the issue.
“We urge the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Abuja to account for the over N1 billion [N1,054,222,576.00] reportedly paid ‘to an Israeli based company for a new aircraft in 2010’ that was never delivered.
“We’ll hold NEMA to account if it fails to act,” SERAP stated on its social media platform.
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