– The last may not have been heard about the sack of Mr. Jim Obazee as Executive Secretary of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN)
– The federal government is said to be considering probing his tenure
– The government is also getting ready to overhaul the FRCN
A report by The Nation indicates that the ousted executive secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) may be in for a turbulent time soon.
Sacked FRC boss Obazee in corruption mess
According to the report, Obazee’s leadership of the FRCN will come under scrutiny soon, even as the government plans to overhaul the agency.
The planned re-organisation of the FRCN is said to be a consequence of the allegations of wrongdoings levelled against the agency.
READ ALSO: Group threatens to sue Pastor Adeboye over his resignation as RCCG General Overseer
The allegations are:
1. Over N1 billion cash of the council, meant for International Financial Reporting Standards Academy (IFRS) is trapped in a bank, contrary to the decision of the board to invest it in treasury bills.
2. Expenditure of N225 million on the production of FRC registration certificates which cannot be exhausted in 24 years’ time
3. Acquisition of a N47 million mansion in Houston, Texas (suspected as 15918 Mission Village DR Houston Texas 77083) by a top official of FRCN.
4. Expenditure of N36 million within 60 days in 2014 on local travel to Abuja to probe the books of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under ex-Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
5. Suspicious payment of incidental expenses.
An unnamed top government official quoted in the report said: “There were a lot of issues during the tenure of Obazee which the government will look into.
“There were allegations of mismanagement of funds and huge incidental expenses incurred by some top officials of the council.
“For instance, it was alleged that about N36 million was spent on local travel to investigate the books of the Central Bank of Nigeria during Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s tenure.
“The council made suspicious payments to hired consultants, who were suspected to be proxies for some of its officials.
“Some contracts awarded were questionable. Also, some outrageous allowances were paid outside the approved rates in the civil service. So, we may probe the administration of FCRN anytime from now.
“The probe of Obazee and others will be part of plans to overhaul the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria. The agency stinks a lot.
“These allegations are not new but the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did not act on them.
“Actually, a member of the Audit Committee of the former board of FRCN had raised some of these issues, especially on poor management of resources.
“There are allegations that council did not publish its annual reports for some years contrary to Section 38 of the FRCN Act. This is not in line with international best practices.
“We will ask the new board to restructure the FRCN in a manner that it will disallow a sit-tight syndrome. Until he was removed, Obazee had served as FRCN chief for more than 10 years as Technical Director through CEO in NASB and to the Executive Secretary level.”
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Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) hailed the government’s removal of Obazee from office.
The general-secretary of CAN, Reverend Musa Asake said: ”The sack of Jim (Obazee) is good riddance to bad rubbish. Anybody that wants to fight the church will find himself where he does not want.”
360naze
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