About 10 out of the 26 Directors-General and Heads of parastatal and government agencies, who were sacked on Monday, may have a date with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
According to a report by The Nation, President Muhammadu Buhari decided to terminate the appointments of the chief executives, owing to the discovery of massive fraud perpetrated in their agencies.
The agencies believed to be under the radar of the EFCC and ICPC include National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), National Broadcasting Commission(NBC), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE), National Women Development Centre(NWDC); Industrial Training Fund(ITF); Nigerian Investment Promotion Council; Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSIT), among others.
One of the heads of the aforementioned agencies was alleged to have spent about N200 billion on the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential campaign in 2015 while some of the former chief executives was reported to have awarded contracts to close associates.
The report quotes a source in the know, to have said: “At least 10 of those sacked chief executives will be handed over to the EFCC and the ICPC. The report on their misconduct is ready for these anti-graft agencies to act upon.”
“All security agencies received the list of those affected about 24 hours before the formal announcement. They will all be placed on surveillance until cleared. Some of them have actually appeared before EFCC and ICPC in the last eight months. Their cases are under various stages of investigation.”
“The revelations are mind-boggling and it is sad that some of these chief executives continued with the impunity even after a new government had taken over. The President bid time to get intelligence report on the atrocities, recklessness and outright graft by some of these former CEOs before sending them packing.”
According to the quoted source, one of the DGs was implicated in a N68 billion fraud and other illegal expenditures and loans allegedly secured without proper approval.
A former female chief executive was also alleged to have donated N700 million to the PDP’s presidential campaign in January 2015, while also spending N800 million on the furnishing of an office and the construction of a store at N240 million instead of N40 million.
One of the heads of the 6 government media agencies was said to be unable to account for most of the funds incurred from advertisements during the 2015 election campaign.
The unnamed DG reportedly purchased a licence for an electronic medium and used public funds to purchase sophisticated equipment for the new private outfit.
Meanwhile, the DG of another agency was alleged to have hidden over N15 billion in a secret account- an act which is in violation of the regulations of Treasury Single Account.
Another DG, who was in charge of an agency generating about N9 billion internally, was discovered to have left behind more than N6 billion debts, upon his sack.
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