President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the senate to approve a request to pay various sums as judgment debts.
The amounts — $566,754,584, £98,526,012 and N226 billion — are said to be owed by the federal government.
Ahmed Lawan, senate president, read the president’s letter of request at the plenary session on Wednesday.
The office of the auditor-general (OAGF) accused the ministry of justice of not following due process in the disbursement of funds earmarked for judgement debts.
The OAGF report said between 2017 and 2018, N10.4 billion was earmarked as judgement debts, and the sum was disbursed without a committee required for that purpose.
The report said the last time the ministry had such a committee was in 2013.
Abubakar Malami has been the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation (AGF) since 2015.
The senate public accounts committee which examined the OAGF’s report is chaired by Mathew Uhroghide, senator representing Edo south.
The report said if the practice is allowed to continue, the federal government would lose funds earmarked to pay judgement debts.
The senate agreed with the OAGF that the ministry of justice should discontinue the payment of the funds and constitute a panel for that purpose immediately.