The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to explain the whereabouts of the N45 billion unremitted operating surplus recorded from 2007 to 2021.

The committee Chairman, Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun State), issued the ultimatum in Abuja, during the committee’s public hearing on leakages of revenue accruals to the Federal Government.

The FRC dragged the SEC before the committee for not responding to its report issued in 2022, where N45bn computed liability of unremitted funds was recorded against the exchange commission.

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“We have written the SEC on December 20, 2022, intimating the commission of our computed liability for the period 2007 to 2021 and the said liability amounted to N45,01bn only.

“Up till now, we have not received any response from them. So, as far as we are concerned, they have accepted the liability and that is what we have recorded against the commission,” a representative of FRC, Mr. Bello Aliyu, told the committee.

Aliyu noted that since 2022, the SEC had not come up with any explanation concerning the unremitted sum.

He argued that by the law, the balance of any operating surplus should be paid into the consolidated revenue fund of the FG within less than one month of the statutory deadline for publishing any corporation account.

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The Director-General, SEC, Lamido Yahaya, however, said that the commission had reconciled its operating surplus with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

He said, “I think if the FRC had done a little more work, they would have seen from the OAGF all the efforts that we have made to reconcile the surplus figure from 2007 when FRC came into being.”

In his remark, Salam noted that by law, the FRC is empowered to ensure that all government agencies and corporations listed in its enabling Act behave responsibly with regards to remittances and management of their revenues.

“I don’t know why SEC is more comfortable with the Accountant-Genera’s office and I don’t want to insinuate anything, but I want to assure the FRC that from now on, all that will stop.

”We are going to ensure that all agencies make the FRC the major body of government that should ensure compliance with the provision of the Act,” he said.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has deployed no fewer than 2,172 corps members to Bauchi State for the 2024 Batch ‘A’ stream ll orientation exercise.

The NYSC Coordinator in the state, Mrs Rifkatu Yakubu, stated this in an interview with Newsmen on Tuesday in Bauchi.

According to her, registration of prospective corps members would commence on April 17 and end at midnight on April 21 at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Wailo, in Ganjuwa Local Government Area.

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She explained that the swearing-in ceremony of the prospective corps members would be conducted on April 23, while the orientation exercise would end on May 7, 2024.

She also said that each of the prospective corps members would be allowed into the camp only after being adequately certified to be genuine graduates.

The coordinator said that discreet screening of the corps members would be conducted as part of security measures to ensure that there was no intrusion or impersonation.

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“Registration dates have been announced to the corps members, and they are advised to adhere strictly to all camp rules and regulations.

“Defaulters will be sanctioned in accordance with the scheme’s extant rules,” Yakubu said.

The state Coordinator also reiterated that the scheme frowned at late-night journeys and urged prospective corps members to avoid it for their own safety.

She tasked them to be punctual and diligent as well as comply with the camp’s acceptable dress codes, adding that flouting the directive would be sanctioned.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, arraign a businessman and socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, before the Federal High Court in Lagos, over allegations of abusing the naira.

Cubana Chief Priest will be arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on a three-count charge of allegedly spraying and tampering with the naira notes at a social event contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.

In the charge filed on April 4 by the EFCC’s prosecutor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, and seven other lawyers representing the chairman of the anti-graft commission, it was alleged that “Okechukwu Pascal on February 13, 2024, at Eko Hotel, within the jurisdiction of the court, while dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

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In count 2, it was alleged “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in 2020, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

In Count 3, it was alleged: “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying the same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

The EFCC, on April 5, secured the conviction of popular cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, on similar charges for which he was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.