**TrackNews Online Investigation**
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), under the leadership of its Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuaib, received ₦7.29 billion in COVID-19 intervention funds but spent only 31 per cent of the allocation as of June 30, 2020, while the audit of the ₦2.24 billion reportedly spent remained unfinished and its findings were never made public.
An interim special audit report by the Auditor-General for the Federation, Anthony M. Ayine, covering the Federal Government’s COVID-19 response between March 1 and June 30, 2020, identified the NPHCDA as the agency with the largest allocation among the participating government institutions.
According to the report, the agency received ₦7,289,597,476 but had spent just ₦2,244,985,572 by June 30, 2020, representing approximately 31 per cent of the funds allocated to it.
This left ₦5,044,611,904 unspent, approximately four months into the country’s COVID-19 response.
The transactions examined by the auditors fell under the leadership of Dr Faisal Shuaib, who became Executive Director of the NPHCDA in January 2017 and remained in office throughout the period covered by the audit.
### ₦20,000 DISCREPANCY IN THE AUDIT REPORT
TrackNews’ examination of the interim report also identified an inconsistency in the agency’s reported allocation.
While the utilisation table and audit coverage table listed the NPHCDA’s allocation as ₦7,289,597,476, the appendix containing details of funds released from the 2020 capital budget recorded ₦7,289,577,476.
The difference amounts to ₦20,000 within the same audit document.
Although relatively small compared with the overall allocation, the discrepancy raises questions about the accuracy and reconciliation of figures contained in the official report.
### AUDIT OF ₦2.24BN REMAINED ONGOING
More concerning is the status of the audit conducted on the agency’s expenditure.
In the utilisation table, the Auditor-General classified the audit progress against the NPHCDA as “Ongoing”.
The report explained that audit work relating to expenditure from the participating agencies’ annual appropriations had not been completed and that the findings would be presented in a subsequent report of the Auditor-General.
It further disclosed that although desk reviews had been reasonably concluded for most agencies visited, physical verification of projects had yet to be completed, partly because of delays in receiving responses from the affected institutions.
Consequently, the interim report did not close any audit findings against the NPHCDA.
This contrasts with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), another frontline health institution involved in the COVID-19 response, against which the same interim report recorded seven closed audit findings.
The absence of closed findings against the NPHCDA does not establish that wrongdoing occurred. Rather, it means the audit process had not reached a stage where the Auditor-General could report final findings against the agency.
### AUDITOR-GENERAL RAISED QUESTIONS OVER COVID-19 EXPENDITURE
The interim report also exposed broader accountability problems surrounding the management of COVID-19 intervention funds across participating government agencies.
According to the Auditor-General, the COVID-19 allocations were drawn from existing 2020 budget envelopes, raising questions about the necessary virement approvals required to redirect funds from their original budgetary purposes.
The report stated that the actual level of expenditure on COVID-19 from the 2020 appropriations of participating agencies “is unclear”.
It also raised the possibility that some agencies could have used virement arrangements to replenish their ordinary budget lines with funds originally allocated for COVID-19 activities.
Furthermore, the report noted that the full extent of expenditure accrued but awaiting settlement was not visible to either the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 or the Accountant-General of the Federation.
These observations highlighted significant weaknesses in the government’s ability to track and account for COVID-19 intervention spending.
### MINISTRY OF HEALTH RECORDED ZERO EXPENDITURE
The audit report also presented an interesting contrast between the NPHCDA and its supervising ministry.
While the NPHCDA received ₦7.29 billion and reported expenditure of approximately ₦2.24 billion, the Federal Ministry of Health recorded an allocation of ₦2,460,079,287 but reported zero expenditure in the same utilisation table.
The figures raise further questions about how COVID-19 intervention funds were deployed across institutions responsible for the country’s public health response.
### BUHARI RENEWED SHUAIB’S APPOINTMENT
Despite the outstanding audit process, Dr Faisal Shuaib received a renewed appointment from former President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2020 for a second and final four-year term as Executive Director of the NPHCDA.
The renewed appointment was scheduled to take effect from January 10, 2021.
The appointment came months after the period covered by the interim audit report, which had identified the agency as the largest recipient of COVID-19 intervention funds among the participating institutions.
### WHERE ARE THE PROMISED AUDIT REPORTS?
The Auditor-General’s interim report was described as the first phase of a three-phase special audit of the Federal Government’s COVID-19 response.
In October 2020, the Auditor-General announced that subsequent reports would be published quarterly.
However, TrackNews’ checks of the publicly available records have not identified the promised second and third phases of the special audit or any subsequently published agency-level findings addressing the NPHCDA transactions examined during the exercise.
The interim report had specifically indicated that further audit work would establish the findings relating to the agencies’ expenditure.
But the outstanding questions surrounding the NPHCDA’s ₦2.24 billion expenditure have remained without publicly available final audit conclusions in the records reviewed by TrackNews.
Our checks also found no publicly documented recovery or sanction specifically arising from the transactions examined at the agency in the interim report.
This does not establish that no internal review, administrative action or subsequent investigation ever took place. It highlights the absence of publicly accessible conclusions that would allow Nigerians to assess the outcome of the promised audit.
### QUESTIONS THAT DEMAND ANSWERS
The management of COVID-19 intervention funds involved public resources allocated during one of the most critical public health emergencies in Nigeria’s recent history.
The NPHCDA received the largest single-agency allocation identified in the interim report, yet only 31 per cent was recorded as spent by June 30, 2020.
The audit of that expenditure remained ongoing, and the promised final findings have not been identified in the public record reviewed by TrackNews.
Nigerians deserve to know what the ₦2.24 billion was spent on, which projects and interventions were delivered, whether the expenditure was properly documented and why the promised audit conclusions have not been made publicly available.
Dr Faisal Shuaib and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency should provide explanations on the utilisation of the funds, while the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation should clarify whether the outstanding phases of the special COVID-19 audit were completed and, if so, why their findings have not been published.
Public health emergency funds are public resources. Their management must be transparent, verifiable and accountable.
**TRACKNEWS ONLINE — Investigating Public Spending. Demanding Accountability.**
