Prof. Abdurrahman Abba Sheshe’s Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Flagged for ₦281.6 Million in Unremitted Revenue and Unpaid Taxes in 2020 Audit

Secrets Reporters

In the final stretch of the auditedAnnual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses for the year ended 31 December 2020 obtained by SecretsReporters, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano emerges as one of the last institutions examined under the University Teaching Hospitals and Allied Institutions section.

SecretsReporters has reviewed the findings, which place approximately ₦281.58 million under scrutiny across two major issues during the tenure of Chief Medical Director Professor Abdurrahman Abba Sheshe. Appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari with effect from 6 December 2019, Sheshe held the post throughout the 2020 audit year.

The larger of the two queries centres on the non-remittance of internally generated revenue. Auditors calculated that the hospital generated ₦944.41 million in IGR in 2020. Under Treasury Circular TRY/A10&B10/2016, which requires agencies to remit either 25 percent of IGR or 80 percent of operating surplus (whichever is higher) to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, ₦236.10 million should have been paid over. Only ₦2.18 million was remitted, leaving an outstanding balance of ₦233.92 million.

Hospital management disputed the auditors’ gross figure, arguing that it reflected a revolving fund on a cost-plus basis and that direct costs had not been netted out. Their own records showed a lower IGR of roughly ₦108.91 million, of which part was remitted in 2020 and a further sum in 2021. The Auditor-General was unpersuaded and recommended full justification and refund of the ₦233.92 million, failing which sanctions under Financial Regulation 3112 would apply. The shortfall represents a direct loss of funds that should have supported broader federal budgetary priorities.

A second finding concerns the non-deduction and non-remittance of statutory taxes. Auditors identified ₦47.66 million in value-added tax, withholding tax and stamp duty due on 2020 contracts that were never paid over to the relevant tax authorities.

The failure breaches Treasury Circular TRY A1&B1/2017 and Financial Regulations 234(i) and 235, which mandate prompt deduction and remittance of such taxes. Management offered no response.

Recovery and remittance have been recommended, again under the threat of sanctions in Regulation 3112. Together the two issues expose significant gaps in revenue accountability and tax compliance at a major teaching hospital tasked with delivering specialised healthcare in northern Nigeria.

The constitutional duty to safeguard public funds and the statutory obligation to channel a portion of internally generated revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund sit at the heart of the findings.