Fed govt not through with man who sacked Pator Adeboye... Threatens more actions after sack

The last may not have been heard about the sack of Mr. Jim Obazee as Executive Secretary of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).

Few days after he was removed as the scribe of the body, the Federal Government is considering probing his tenure.


Some other top officials of the council may also be asked to make way as government prepares for the overhaul of the parastatal.

The planned reorganisation is a consequence of allegations of wrongdoings in the establishment.

One of the allegations is that 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.

Investigation revealed that FRCN had been under probe radar since 2014 but the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did not act.

Some of the other allegations against the council border on curious budget and expenses as follows:

• Expenditure of  N225 million on the  production of FRC registration certificates which cannot be exhausted in 24 years’ time
• Acquisition of  a  N47 million mansion in Houston, Texas (suspected as 15918 Mission Village DR Houston Texas 77083) by a top official  of FRCN.
• 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
• Suspicious payment of incidental expenses.

In a particular curious expense in July 2014, a top official allegedly applied for N736, 250 to go to Abuja for an official assignment.

His memo said: “Please arrange to reimburse me for my trip to Abuja to meet and brief the Permanent Secretary on the activities of the FRC.

“I travelled on Monday, July 14, 2014 and returned to Lagos on Tuesday, July 15, 2014.

“Details are as follows: Return ticket (Lagos-Abuja-Lagos) N150,000; Hotel Expenses (N86, 250); Incidental Expenses (N500,000), amount due to me, (N736,250).”

In a similar claim, the official on August 18, 2014 asked for a reimbursement of N836, 250 for a trip to Abuja.

The official had applied for the reimbursement of the cash through a memo addressed to Assistant Director (FIND).

The memo, which was obtained by our correspondent said: “Please arrange to reimburse me for my trip to Abuja for a meeting to attend the meeting of Heads of Parastatals with the Honourable Minister at Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on Thursday, August 14, 2014.

“I travelled on Thursday, August 14, 2014 and returned back to Lagos on Friday, August 15, 2014.

“Details are as follows: (i) Return ticket( Lagos-Abuja-Lagos)—N150,000; (ii) Hotel expenses (N86,250); and (iii) Incidental expenses (N600,000).

“Amount due to me is N836, 250.”

A top government official 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.

“We have a report on how a top official of FRCN allegedly bought a N47 million mansion in Houston, Texas.

“The council made suspicious payments to hired consultants, who were suspected to be proxies for some of its officials, etc."