The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) may be having hard times explaining how its officials squandered a whooping N130million budgetary allocation for research and development on trips, estacodes, and other sundry expenses.
The Commission’s 2021 expenditure sheet for 38 items indicates that funds assigned for research and development constitute payment for various purposes with the bulk of it spent on ‘data mapping’ across various parts of the world.
According to the account statement, 28 per cent of the funds, totalling about N36 million was deployed to map Nigerians in foreign jurisdictions that included Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Japan, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Other countries also covered in the mapping expenditure are South Africa, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is as the Commission documented that its online presence was funded with N28.9 million, representing about 22.20 per cent of the N130 million budget provision for her research and development.
Further details of the expenses captured in the Commission’s 2021 Research and Development budget, with the code 23050101, reads as follows; ”Being requisition for the award of contract for consultancy services for the NIDCOM App development project, phase I (with remittance functionality) the lot 4 research and development job cost Nigerian taxpayers N19,271,566.00.”
The explanation for the online presence stated thus; “Being requisition for consultancy services for upgrading, maintenance and application of NIDCOM website, N9,604,888.75.”
Also related to these expenses are payments by NIDCOM officials listed as items 19, 20 and 22, which stated thus: “Payment for professional contact services for Facebook and messenger service N2.4m; payment for professional call service for NIDCOM phone service platform N2.4m and payment for user licenses for professional call and contact services N2m.”
Additionally, 16 per cent of the N130 million for research and development fund expended on trips and estacodes, amounting to N21 million, covering trips to the United States, United Kingdoms and France, as well as cost for several other trips funded by the Commission.
Further splashing over N11 million on the establishment of an online radio station to popularise its activities, the expenditure sheet tagged the amount to the “Establishment of radio/digital TV unified information service centre…”
On the expenditure profile also was the purchase of equipment amounting to about N800,000.00 and another payment totalling N602,000.00.
