The Nigerian Senate has asked Lamido Yuguda, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, to return N594 million his office collected as vehicle allowances.
This decision came about after the Senate adopted the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation on the 2018 report from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation or AuGF, which found the agency culpable.
The Committee stated that it upheld the indictment against SEC because the agency failed to appear before them to address the AuGF’s query, insisting that the DG must return said funds to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.
Despite submitting a written response, the Commission did not attend the committee meeting chaired by Senator Matthew Urhoghide.
According to the AuGF’s query, the Director-General received N39 million in 2013 as monetized car allowances, intended for a four-year period.
The AuGF’s query states, “Considering the above, the payment of N39 million in 2013 and N84 million in 2015, totalling N124 million to the Director-General, was improper and cannot be justified as proper charges against public funds.
“Also, the sum of N469 million was further expended on the payment of the monetised motor vehicle insurance in 2015 and 2016.”
This directive from the Senate aims to address the financial irregularities identified within the SEC and ensure accountability in the utilisation of public funds
