House Queries NECO over N636m Unremitted Funds

*Summons NSITF, NBC, others

By Udora Orizu

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Wednesday queried the National Examinations Council (NECO) over the sum N636,778,000 which it failed to remit to the Federal Government in 2019.

This was as the Committee directed that agencies such as, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Industrial Training Fund, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), which failed to show up at the hearing, should appear on Thursday unfailingly.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Faleke, at the resumed investigative hearing into alleged 30 billion dollars annual revenue leakages, grilled the Acting Registrar of NECO, Mr Ebikibina Ogborodi and other top executives of the examination body.

Addressing the lawmakers, Ogborodi who said they had an operating surplus of N1,278, 462,493 of which they were to remit 80 percent (N1,022, 769,994) to the government, noted that only N385,991,627 was remitted.

He said this was because the examination body was being owed by some states governments.

According to him, “The balance is because some state governments who did the examinations are yet to pay. Zamfara was the highest debtor with N1, 022,234,000. Others are Adamawa (N281, 455, 500), Kano (N240, 043, 000), Gombe (N7, 214, 150), Borno (N40,027,675) and Niger (N234,453,157).”

He however said they had written to relevant authorities to help with the recovery of the money.

In his ruling, Faleke who expressed dissatisfaction with his response threatened that the Accountant General would block the account of the examination body and only make money available to them to conduct examinations.

The lawmaker told them to come back in two weeks with all relevant documents about their transactions.