Report: How Nigerian Law School paid N32m into account of cleaner in 12 months

The office of the auditor-general of the federation has indicted the Nigerian Law School (NLS) of misappropriation of funds, The PUNCH reports.

The newspaper cited as its source, the 2015 audit report scrutinised by the senate public accounts committee, on Thursday.

As of 2015, the office was headed by Samuel Ukura, immediate past auditor-general of the federation.

The report said besides misappropriation of funds, the NLS spent some funds without approval.

It said the management of the institution illegally paid N32 million to the account of an unnamed cleaner over a period of 12 months.

The report also said the NLS paid N36 million as dressing allowance of 52 staff into the account of a single member of staff in violation of the public finance act.

Quoting the 2015 report, the newspaper said the NLS was also indicted of using pension funds to offset expenses not related to payment of pension, an act contrary to existing financial regulations.

“The examination of payment records revealed that the Nigerian Law School several times paid N36m to staff as dressing allowance in 2013 alone,” the report read.

Isa Hayatu Chiroma, director-general (DG) of the NLS, was reported to have expressed surprise over the auditor’s report, but that he said he was not the NLS DG when the financial infractions happened.

The senate committee directed Chiroma to recover the funds and return them into the NLS account.