3rd July, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
The Office of Auditor-General of the Federation on Thursday revealed how the Nigerian Law School paid N32 million illegally into the account of an unnamed cleaner over a period of 12 months.
The Auditor revealed this in a report presented to the Senate, uncovered several anomalies in the financial records of the apex legal academic institution.
According to Punch, the report that indicted institution for misappropriation and spending without approvals, also revealed how the management of the school in 2013 alone, paid N36 million ‘several times’ to its staff as dressing allowance.
The 2015 Financial Report of the office is currently being scrutinised by the Senate Public Accounts Committee for investigation.
The Auditor-General report also queried the payment of N36m as dressing allowance of 52 workers to the account of a single member of staff in violation of Nigeria’s Financial Act.
It read in part, “The examination of payment records revealed that the Nigerian Law School several times paid N36m to staff as dressing allowance in 2013 alone.
“The Management could not substantiate these payments with any approval from Salaries and Wages Commission to enable the audit team to determine the genuineness of these payments to staff. No appropriation in this request,” part of the report read.
Reacting to the revelations, the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Isa Chiroma, said he was not in office when the issues occurred, but agreed that “government is a continuum.”
The Nigerian Law School is one of the many agencies that have been indicted for misappropriation of funds and spending without approval.
Some agencies indicted in recent times include the Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Niger Delta Development Commission, among others.
Many other agencies have been accused of failing to submit their audited reports to the Office of the auditor-general
This recent revelation comes months after the OAuGF queried the Customs Service over N28 billion unremitted fund into the Federation Account in 2015.