Queried Permanent Secretary, Mohammed Bello Umar denies allegations of fraud, impropriety, accuses Agric Minister of set-up

Francis Ogwo

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mohammed Bello, has said he is not guilty of the allegations of financial misconduct he is acussed of.

Bello had been issued a query by the Federal Government alleging financial misconduct during his tenure as the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in which he was accused among other allegations, of buying an uncompleted building for N7billion with the regard for due process.

While responding, Bello said the building was bought with approval from the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono and the Federal Executive Council (FEC)

Bello, while reacting in a letter dated May 14, said he complied with due process in all his financial transactions during his tenure at the Ministry of Agriculture.

“While denying in totality, all the allegations, I hereby forward my representations and response to all the false allegations contained in the query.

“I am constrained to give details of the transactions I approved, to set the record straight and clear my name. I will like to state the following, that all transactions at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were approved through administrative process and principles as traditioned in the conduct of government business.

“That FMARD run a rolling budget year-in, year-out, as most projects are been captured as ongoing; that all contracts/procurement and payments at the FMARD followed due process. There are procedures for contracts/procurement and payments handled by various departments in all government agencies, FMARD inclusive.

Bello argued that whatever irregularities that were discovered before his tenure should not be attributed to him.

“That my tenure as Permanent Secretary at FMARD commenced from 10th January, 2019 to 18th December, 2019 and hence, cannot be held responsible or liable for actions prior to 10th January, 2019.

“I state that contractors were dully paid. The allegation of contractors not been paid is totally false. All contractors whose contract was captured in the 2018 budgetary allocation were paid in accordance to budgetary releases.

“However, contractors whose contracts are ongoing were rolled over as ongoing. Rollover capital projects are not new in contract management.

“I will state that due process was followed to the latter in the purchase of the said building. After submission of recommendation to the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, He approved that Council Memo be made to that effect. We then sent the Memo to the Secretary to Government of the Federation who then scheduled it for Federal Executive Council Approval. Consequently, the Federal Executive Council approved the purchase of the building.” He stated.

Bello accused the Agriculture Minister and Mu’azu Abdulkadir, the current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, of being responsible for the allegations against him.

“These are the same people alleging that the purchased office building was unfit for use,”
Bello accused the current Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of funds diversion.

“It is worthy of note at this point, that it is the current Permanent Secretary, FMARD, who is actually guilty of virement as since after the approval of the above contracts, has refused to sign and release letters of award of contract to the respective contractors but instead diverted and vire the funds to other projects in his locality that were never part of the appropriation, neither advertised nor bided for. This is a case of unequivocal virement.”

Recall that the Federal Government had issued a query to Mohammed Bello, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology over alleged financial misconduct.

In a letter dated May 11 and signed by Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of Service of the Federation, Bello was accused of acts of misconduct while he was the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He was accused of not paying eligible contractors despite the budgetary release of N98bn to the Agriculture Ministry in 2018, and also alleged to have used the entire 2019 first-quarter release of N7bn to pay for the 2018 contracts that were already funded.

“The attention of Mr. President has been drawn to the acts of serious misconduct against you in your former post as the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on which he has given further directive,” the query read.

“Specifically, it was alleged that in spite of the budgetary release of the N98,405,763,678.68 in 2018, (which represents 99.44 of 2018 appropriation) you did not take necessary action to pay the eligible contractors which led to the Ministry having an outstanding contractual liability in the sum 0f N48,429,543,895.72;

“Under your leadership as the Accounting Officer, the Ministry utilised the entire 2019 first-quarter release of N7,737,208,135.18 to pay for the 2018 contracts that were fully funded In 2018 which constitutes virement without authority,

“As Accounting Officer, you oversaw a transaction for the purchase of a building for the use of the Ministry at the sum of N7,o44,746,264.06 without the conduct of the mandatory statutory structural and mechanical integrity tests; and prior approval 0f the FCDA Public Building Department; the building was eventually found to be an uncompleted carcass requiring billions of Naira to complete and make safe for occupation;

“Under your watch as the Accounting Officer, the Ministry procured seven deep drilling rigs for borehole at an average cost of N300,000,000.00 without recourse to the Federal Executive Council;

“And in April 2019, you gave out the seven rigs procured at over N1.3 billion to some individuals under fraudulent arrangements, without the approval of the Minister; and one of the rigs linked to you is yet to be returned despite several written reminders; and you misplaced the intervention funds approved for the purchase of strategic grains and the establishment of the Rural Grazing Area Settlements in violation of extant Financial Regulations,” the query added