Alleged embezzlement of N15 bn belonging to NECO is a mere rumour - Registrar

macfranc007 March 09, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 David Oladele

- The registrar, national examination council Charles Uwakwe said the agency also remitted N820 in two years to the federal government

- Uwakwe noted that by next exam agency should be able to remit to the federation account about N1.2 billion

- He, however, described the alleged embezzlement of N15 billion belonging to the agency as mere rumour

The Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Charles Uwakwe, Thursday, March 8, said the agency would remit N1.2 into the federation account this year, 2018.

Uwakwe who made this known in a statement in Abuja said the agency remitted N820 in two years to the federal government.

According to him, N500 million and N320 was remitted to the government in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Uwakwe said: ''We have a mandate to do this therefore, we should be managing the resources that we have very prudently and there is also a bit of pressure on us to be remitting to federation account which we are very cognizant of.

''We are making efforts to ensure that we continue to improve in that respect and therefore prudent management of resources that we have must be our guiding principle.

''We just returned from the defense of our budget in the National Assembly and they have said there is need for us to increase our remittance to the federation account which we have been working on.

''We have improved from N320 million to more than N500 million. We estimate that by next exam we should be able to remit to the federation account about N1.2 billion. And it’s appropriate for us to do that.

''People should come to the council for clarification when they have doubts. It is unacceptable because they peddle rumors to the detriment of the council.''

He described the alleged embezzlement of N15 billion belonging to the agency as “mere rumour.”

According to him, ''The budget of the agency is under close scrutiny of the federal ministry of education and national assembly.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

''To set the record straight we are not running independently in terms of our budgeting. We are under strict guidance by the ministry and national Assembly. Every year we provide information as to what we generate and what our expenditure is.

''We go to defend all those and therefore if somebody says fifty naira is missing as a chief executive laying emphasis on prudent management and zero tolerance for impunity, there is no way that anybody can associate me with such frivolous expenditure. It’s practically impossible and totally fallacious.''

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that Ahead of the UTME that will begin on Friday, March 9 to March 17, the full list of the examination centres across the country had been released.

About 1.6 million candidates are expected to write the examination in 602 centres across the country.

The spokesperson of the board Fabian Benjamin said the notification slip also carries the time and date allocated to each candidate.

Nigerians express mixed feelings as JAMB reduces admission cut-off to 120 - on NAIJ.com TV: