The Edo Prisons Cooperative Society has been rocked by a very serious financial scam that is threatening the normalcy of operations.
File photo: A Nigerian prison
According to a report by The Nation, some officials of the Nigeria Prison Service, Edo State Command, have cried out over alleged embezzlement of N563m in the account of their cooperative society.
They said the money was embezzled between 2013 and today. The prison officials, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen in Benin City that activities about the cooperative society were kept from them by a few cabal.
They also alleged that about the sum of N13.5m was deducted monthly by the prison authority at the headquarters in Abuja from salaries of staff that constitute members of the cooperative society.
What they said fuelled their suspicion was the deliberate refusal to convene an Annual General Meeting of the body since 2013 and non-election of new executives even when the tenure of the incumbent executive has since expired.
They stated that it was only through the AGM that there would be a review of the financial status of the cooperative because external auditors would peruse the account.
The aggrieved prison officials also alleged that the fraud became more glaring when the Treasurer of the cooperative, Mrs. Idiake Theresa, was made to sign a blank cheque.
The Controller, in his reaction, however described the allegations by the aggrieved prison officials as baseless and unfounded.
He said, “I am not a signatory to the account of the cooperative. How will I have embezzled money when I am not up to two years in this Command?”
Chairman of the cooperative, Uwaifo Uyi challenged any aggrieved member of the NPS cooperative society to petition the Economic and Financial Crime Commission or the Zonal Comptroller-General of the NPS.
He added that the cooperative does not have up to N500m in its account for the past five years.