The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has rejected online reports about an Auditor-General for Federation’s report on its 2023 expenditure and said it will respond to the National Assembly and the Office of the AuditorGeneral when formally invited.
The controversy centres on an audit observation concerning the ₦209.09 million reportedly spent on flights, accommodation, venues and other logistics for three diaspora-related events in 2023.
A report by Foundation for Investigative Journalism, citing the Auditor-General’s Annual Report on the Non-Compliance /Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the financial year ended December 31, 2024, said auditors were not provided with documents sufficient to verify the expenditure.
The events identified in that account were the Global African Diaspora Symposium, National Diaspora Day celebration and Diaspora Merit Award in Abuja.
The documents said to be unavailable to the auditors included flight bookings, accommodation records, participant details, venue documentation, invitations, evidence of payment to a music artist, copies of stamped visa passports and attendance registers.
The report reportedly classified the observation as carrying risks of diversion and loss of public funds, recommended that NiDCOM’s chairman account for the money before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees and that any amount found to be improperly spent be recovered and paid into the Treasury.
The report also stated that NiDCOM’s management had not responded to the audit query at the time of the auditors’ review, leaving the observation unresolved.
That recommendation is an audit follow-up measure. It is not, by itself, a conviction or final judicial determination that public funds were stolen.
The records indicate that the matter remains subject to explanations, verification and action by the competent oversight authorities.
Wider observations reported
The same account attributed several other observations to the audit report.
They included contracts valued at ₦356.38 million awarded to seven companies whose prequalification
documents had reportedly expired;
₦165.29 million in contracts paid to firms whose taxclearance certificates were described as invalid; and ₦91.90 million in contracts awarded to four companies that reportedly recorded zero turnover during the years examined.
The report also reportedly questioned five direct-emergency-procurement contracts worth ₦340.83 million for consultancy services connected with the Global African Diaspora Symposium.
Auditors were said to have questioned the use of an emergency procedure when the event had been scheduled about 20 weeks after the decision to hold it, and to have noted the absence of a Bureau of Public Procurement certificate of no objection.
In another observation, two logistics contracts with a combined value of ₦137.52 million were reportedly treated as separate procurements even though they concerned similar services for international flights and tickets.
Auditors said the arrangement could have been used to circumvent approval thresholds, according to the report as cited by the investigative publication.
The wider audit report, which was transmitted to the National Assembly in July 2026 and published in August, was described in national coverage as identifying control weaknesses across federal ministries, departments and agencies.
Those weaknesses included
unsupported payments, irregular contracts, unretired advances and failures in revenue remittance.
NiDCOM’s response
In a statement signed by its management and reported on September 5 and 6, NiDCOM described the online reports as an attempt to “blackmail and distract” the Commission.
It said the audit report did not amount to a finding of wrongdoing by the agency and that it would not engage in an exchange with groups or individuals it accused of blackmailing and extorting ministries, departments and agencies.
The Commission said it remained open and transparent and would provide explanations and documents to the appropriate authorities when officially requested. It specifically mentioned the relevant National Assembly committees and the Auditor-General’s office.
In a more detailed clarification reported by The Sun, NiDCOM said documents relating to its 2023 activities were intact and would be made available to statutory oversight bodies.
It listed the Global African Diaspora Summit, National Diaspora Day, the National Diaspora Merit Award, the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit and the Badagry Door of Return among the programmes it held during the year.
NiDCOM said the Global African Diaspora event attracted participants from 16 countries and that the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States recognised its chairman, Abike Dabiri- Erewa, as a diaspora champion.
The Commission maintained that its activities were carried out despite limited resources and said some programmes required support from sponsors.
The Commission also criticised Global Integrity Watch, the organization associated with the online allegations, and questioned its motives and funding.
Those assertions of these allegations; the available reports do not establish them as proven facts. Global Integrity Watch’s full response to NiDCOM was not available in the sources reviewed for this report.
What happens next
The immediate issue is therefore not whether NiDCOM has already been found criminally liable, but whether it can reconcile the audit queries with complete documentary evidence and satisfy the statutory oversight process.
The Public Accounts Committees and the Auditor-General’s office are the bodies positioned to examine the Commission’s explanations, authenticate supporting documents and to determine whether the recovery or other administrative action is required.
Until that process is completed, the ₦209.09 million matter should be reported as unresolved audit observation and allegation of inadequate supporting documentation, rather than as a proven case of embezzlement.
NiDCOM says it is ready to answer through formal channels; the audit account calls for the expenditure and related procurement decisions to be explained and, where warranted, recovered.
