Delta Revenue Board Chairman, Onyeme In Missing N108 Million Scandal

The money has been uncounted for by the board chairman since 2019 following an audit carried out by the office of the state auditor general.
The Chairman, Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR), Monday Onyeme, is currently embroiled in a scandal involving missing funds running into N107, 740, 000 (N107. 7 million), TrackNews Online has learnt.

Our correspondent reliably gathered that the money has been uncounted for by the board chairman since 2019 following an audit carried out by the office of the state auditor general.

Contained in part four of the 2019 audit report of the auditor general of Delta State as updated, under section 4 subsection 3 (38), and sighted by TrackNews Online the board’s total budget provision for 2019 was N3 billion while the actual expenditure incurred in the same period amounted to N2, 999, 810, 494.86, resulting in about N189 million savings.

However, the sum of N107, 740, 000 or 3.6 percent of the N2.9 billion is said to be missing.

The funds, our correspondent gathered, form part of several millions of naira unaccounted for that the board chairman is allegedly battling to cover up.

As contained in a query by the auditor general, Paul Aghanenu dated May 14, 2020, the missing funds were paid out in 28 tranches.

The state auditor general’s query reads: “A total of 28 payment vouchers amount to N107,740,000 or 3.6% total overhead expenditure of N2,999,810,494.86 were observed to be irregular and therefore have been queried and referred to the officer for comments and explanation. The irregularities range from no audit certificate, no proper retirement and absence of approval.”

A member of the board, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the board as a “cash cow for politicians”.

“This our board is a conduit. No accountability in this board. This is where politicians cart away millions of naira and up to billions of naira and nobody asks questions. The financial recklessness in the board is too much. The board chairman is a billionaire,” the source added.

However, efforts to reach the Chairman, Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR), Onyeme, were not successful and he did not answer his calls nor reply text messages sent to his mobile line.