On September 14, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) paid about N380 million to various contractors, without disclosing the specific projects the payments were meant for, FIJ can report.
The scantily available details of these transactions were spotted on Govspend, BudgIT’s financial transparency portal, which mirrors the Open Treasury Portal.
On that day, one of the notable payments was N76.3 million to Greenstone Pharmacy Stores. Records from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) show the company was registered in 2010, and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) indicates it is eligible for government contracts in both 2023 and 2024.
Similarly, Nozama Enterprises Limited received N79.4 million for a transaction that was logged with no description. According to the CAC, Nozama was registered in 2017 and has met the government contract compliance criteria over the past five years, according to the BPP.
Another recipient, Cureject Global Limited, received N79.6 million, also with no description attached. The CAC records show that Cureject was incorporated in Kano in 2015, but the BPP logs its registration year as 2019.
Interestingly, Cureject has only been eligible for a government contract once in the past five years. In 2024, the company failed to meet its obligations to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), which should disqualify it from receiving government contracts.
Though Cureject was compliant in 2023, no records exist for 2020 and 2022. In 2021, it also failed to meet its obligations to FIRS, NSITF, ITF and the Pension Commission.
Yeemas Pharmaceuticals and General Services Limited also received N77.3 million for an undisclosed project. The CAC records show the company was registered in 2019. It was only recently registered with the BPP in March 2024.
Medicguard, a pharmaceutical service, received N67.5 million from the agency, with no explanation provided for the payment. According to the BPP, Medicguard has been eligible for government contracts since its registration in 2020.
Noncompliance With Transparency Directive
The NPHCDA’s failure to disclose details of these transactions directly violates a 2021 presidential directive issued by former president Muhammadu Buhari at the launch of the Open Treasury Portal.
This directive mandates all federal government agencies to log the specifics of transactions exceeding N5 million. The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) is tasked with ensuring the daily publication of these financial activities.
Buhari said at the time, “The accountant-general of the federation (AGF) must publish a daily treasury statement which will provide information about what came into the national purse and what went out every single day.
“I repeat, every single day. Henceforth, the treasury is required to publish this information unfailingly. The AGF and all accounting officers must publish daily payment reports.”
The directive, as reported by Daily Trust, further specified that “with these reports, the treasury will publish payments of at least N10 million, while all MDAs must publish payments above N5 million made out of all public funds under their purview.
“The information to be published must include the MDA responsible, the beneficiary, the purpose, and the amount of each payment. Accounting officers are responsible for providing answers to any questions from the public relating to transactions completed by entities under their charge.”
Agency Impossible to Contact
In an attempt to get clarification about these payments, FIJ tried reaching out to the NPHCDA via the email address listed on the agency’s website. However, the mailing service returned an error message on Thursday, indicating that the address did not exist.
“The email address you entered couldn’t be found. Please check the recipient’s email address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk,” the error message read.
Additionally, the agency’s website lists two phone numbers for public inquiries; one designated as a WhatsApp-only number, and the other for general calls.
https://nphcda.gov.ng/contact-us/embed/#?secret=mKVyS3pm2k#?secret=OX3JWWYWjy
The WhatsApp number was not associated with any account at press time.
When FIJ attempted to call the listed phone number, an answering machine replied, “It does not have the facility to receive calls.”
NITDA Guidelines Violated
By listing inaccessible contact information, the NPHCDA is violating the guidelines set by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for government-owned websites.
Section 3 of the guidelines clearly states that the homepage of a government website must include a link to a contact page containing a functional phone number and a monitored email address.
It should also feature a contact form with fields for name, address, and message, along with a regularly monitored email address of the institution’s public relations department.