Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Minister of Special Duties & Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, not to shield any employee of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) from investigation and prosecution over allegations of corruption.
Staff members of the agency had embarked on a nationwide strike last month, accusing the director-general of acting arbitrarily.
The Secretary, Association of Civil Servants of Nigeria, NLRC unit, Mrs Anastesia Ijobo, had also urged the EFCC to probe certain suspicious transactions authorised by the commission’s management amounting to over N2billion.The EFCC had invited some staff of the commission for interrogation, but no charges have been filed.
The non-governmental organisation, in a statement by its director in charge of Welfare and Logistics, Mr. Akumabi Ojogbane, said no action has been taken on it’s June 6, 2020 petition addressed to Senator Akume, EFCC and other relevant bodies.
It had alleged in the petition, among others that over N1billion was spent from the commission’s internally generated revenue without appropriation (as against N75 million appropriated as administrative expenses) in 2019.
“In 2020, over N1billion was spent from the commission’s internally-generated revenue without appropriation,” the group had claimed.
CIGN urged the EFCC to ensure that no one named in the petition is shielded by virtue of his or her connections in government.
But speaking during the picketing of the commission by the staff in September, the commission’s head of public affairs, Magnus Ekechukwu denied the allegations against the NLRC management, wondering how over N2billion could be diverted in this era of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
He denied any fund diversion or mismanagement under Gbajabiamila’s leadership, who he said is working to reposition the agency.
Ekechukwu declared that the Buhari-led administration, which has zero-tolerance for corruption would not spare any corrupt official.