There was mild drama at the Senate on Thursday, as the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (NLRC) failed to justify the N756 million received from the Service Wide Votes, which is said to have been expended on producing the ‘Revision of Laws of the Federation.’
This development occurred when the NLRC appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), where some discrepancies surrounding the expenditures in the documents were tendered.
Chairman of the Commission, Professor Jummai Audi, was scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee to defend the money received from Service Wide Votes from 2017- 2021, which had been the subject of controversy and discreet investigation by the Senate panel. On appearing before the Senators, however, she could not justify the expenditures as discrepancies trail the documents submitted to the committee for vetting.
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The document uncovered that a single person signed out N3million while another Officer of the commission signed for 10 to 15 people.
In his submission, Committee Chairman, Senator Mathew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South), pointed out that the disbursement for the N756 million was disconnected for a period of time while listing out all the expenditures. He said that NLRC failed to justify how the money was used to produce the ‘Revision of Laws of the Federation.’
The lawmaker thereafter ordered the Commission’s Chairman to make available all justifications for the expenditure and attach receipts to them. He also told Audi to put her people together.
“We just want to be sure that the money was used, put your account and the Finance Department together,” he said.
Ojochenemi Onje-James
Ojochenemi Onje-James is a research writer and journalist with years of proven footprints in areas of crime and politics. She has a M.Sc in International Relations and Strategic Studies as well as a B.Sc in Mass Communication.
