The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), under the leadership of Director-General and Chief Executive Officer Charles Odii, is facing serious questions over its financial controls following findings of irregularities amounting to ₦1,967,239,964.81 — almost ₦2 billion.
According to Secrets Reporters, documents obtained on the agency’s finances reveal eight separate findings involving procurement, contract awards, inventory management, cash advances, monitoring exercises and the valuation of government assets.
The largest finding involved ₦627,363,914.81 in store items that were reportedly not taken into SMEDAN’s financial records.
The documents indicate that goods procured with public funds were not properly entered into the agency’s inventory records, raising questions about what was actually received, recorded and accounted for.
Another ₦440,000,000 was linked to violations of due process in the award of contracts.
Government procurement rules are designed to ensure that public contracts are awarded transparently and in accordance with established procedures. The reported violation therefore raises serious questions about the process through which the contracts were awarded and the safeguards applied before public funds were committed.
The documents further identified ₦346,581,300 in unretired cash advances.
The amount represents funds reportedly advanced but not properly retired or accounted for, raising questions about the agency’s controls over cash disbursements and its ability to ensure that public money released to officials or other recipients is properly accounted for.
Another major finding involved contracts worth ₦332,500,000 that were reportedly awarded without specifying completion periods.
The omission creates a significant accountability gap. Without a defined completion period, there is no clear contractual benchmark for determining when a contractor was expected to deliver or when failure to complete an assignment within the agreed period should trigger action.
The documents also identified ₦99,794,750 paid for monitoring exercises which a government finding against SMEDAN described as irregular.
Another ₦60,000,000 was linked to further irregularities in contract awards.
In addition, ₦47,500,000 was reportedly awarded to a contractor found to be ineligible for the contract, raising questions about the due diligence and eligibility checks carried out before the award.
The final finding involved ₦13,500,000 and concerned an irregular valuation of unserviceable motor vehicles.
Taken together, the eight findings amount to ₦1,967,239,964.81 — almost ₦2 billion in reported financial, procurement, inventory and administrative irregularities.
The findings demand immediate answers.
Nearly ₦2 billion in reported financial and procurement irregularities at an agency entrusted with promoting accountability among Nigeria’s small businesses is too serious to be brushed aside. The transactions, the officials responsible for approving and managing them, and the actions taken after the irregularities were identified must face thorough scrutiny.
The ₦346.58 million in unretired cash advances, ₦627.36 million in unrecorded store items, ₦332.5 million in contracts without completion periods and the other reported irregularities expose glaring failures in the systems designed to protect public funds.
The agency must explain what happened to the money, goods and contracts involved and account for how such breaches were allowed to occur.
Charles Odii has served as Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of SMEDAN since April 2022.
According to a source cited by Secrets Reporters, Odii was introduced to President Bola Tinubu by Seyi Tinubu, the President’s son, before the President accepted his nomination into the agency.
Under Odii’s leadership, SMEDAN is now confronted with findings involving nearly ₦2 billion in financial, procurement and administrative irregularities.
The scale of the findings puts SMEDAN’s leadership under intense public scrutiny and raises serious questions about the effectiveness of its financial controls, procurement systems and internal accountability mechanisms.
This is not a minor administrative lapse.
The findings involve hundreds of millions of naira in public resources, including goods allegedly left out of financial records, cash advances left unretired, contracts awarded without completion deadlines and payments described as irregular.
Such failures strike directly at the credibility of an agency whose mandate includes teaching small businesses the importance of proper records, financial discipline and responsible management.
SMEDAN was established to promote and facilitate the development of micro, small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. The agency is expected to help businesses overcome challenges relating to finance, infrastructure, management and sustainable growth.
It is therefore striking that an institution expected to encourage entrepreneurs to maintain proper records and financial discipline is facing findings involving hundreds of millions of naira in unrecorded goods, unretired cash advances and questionable contract procedures.
For small business owners struggling to maintain proper books, account for inventory and comply with financial requirements, the reported failures at SMEDAN raise an uncomfortable question: what credibility does an agency have when its own financial controls are under such scrutiny?
SMEDAN cannot demand accountability from Nigeria’s small businesses while facing questions over its own handling of public funds.
The agency owes Nigerians clear explanations, proper documentation and accountability for every naira covered by the findings.
The issue is significant because public funds are involved. Every contract awarded, every cash advance released, every item purchased and every government asset disposed of should be supported by proper documentation and subjected to controls established to protect public resources.
The reported ₦627.36 million in store items alone represents a staggering documentation failure.
The ₦346.58 million in unretired advances raises questions about cash accountability, while the ₦332.5 million in contracts without completion periods points to weaknesses in contract administration.
The ₦440 million linked to due-process violations and the additional ₦60 million tied to contract-award irregularities further deepen concerns about the agency’s procurement processes.
The ₦47.5 million contract reportedly awarded to an ineligible contractor also demands an explanation of how the contractor passed through the agency’s procurement process despite the reported eligibility problem.
Meanwhile, the ₦99.79 million monitoring expenditure described as irregular and the ₦13.5 million irregular valuation of unserviceable vehicles add further concerns about how SMEDAN manages and accounts for public resources.
The cumulative figure — ₦1,967,239,964.81 — is too substantial to be treated as a routine paperwork issue.
At stake is not only the money involved but also the credibility of an agency created to strengthen the very businesses that form a significant part of Nigeria’s economy.
SMEDAN’s leadership must therefore confront the questions arising from the findings and provide Nigerians with clear explanations on the transactions, the controls that failed, the officials responsible for the relevant processes and the corrective steps taken.
For an agency whose mandate is to help businesses become more organised, financially responsible and sustainable, accountability must begin within the agency itself.
The nearly ₦2 billion in reported irregularities has placed Charles Odii and the agency he leads under intense public scrutiny, with Nigerians entitled to demand answers over how such extensive financial and procurement issues occurred within an institution entrusted with supporting the nation’s small businesses.