Reps committee directs finance minister to sack FCCPC Director Finance

The Committee on Finance of the House of Representatives has asked the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed to sack the Director of Finance of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Akinyoghon Ojo over extra-budgetary spending.

At the hearing on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the committee discovered that the agency spent about N2 billion without budgetary approval in 2021 and spent about N3 billion in 2022.

James Faleke, the Chairman of the Committee, directed the Clerk of the Committee to write a letter to the Minister of Finance to sack the Finance Director.

He stated that the FCCPC, which is a fully funded agency spent their Internally Generated Revenue against the provision of the Constitution and the fiscal responsibility Act.

The lawmakers discovered that the agency generated N4.021 billion but remitted only N1.3 billion. So far in 2022, the agency generated N3.661 billion as at July but remitted N1.2 billion.

“Clerk, write to the Minister of Finance, that in respect of this agency, no fund should be released until we have seen the letter of the redeployment of the DFA. No fund should be released,” he said.

In response, Mr Ojo explained that the agency got the approval of a committee of the House to spend the money.

However, Faleke responded that no committee has such power. He ruled that the agency should appear again on Monday with a new Director of Finance. Furthermore, he directed relevant authorities to place an embargo on the account of the agency.