There is disquiet within a critical agency of the Federal Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, over alleged ongoing destruction of vital and financial records.
Some concerned staff, both in the junior and senior cares, had reportedly made submission to the ministry and the Ministry of Finance, alleging that the outgoing Managing Director, Marylin Amobi, is destroying records and awarding herself and cronies huge sums as severance pay.
A source within NBET also disclosed that enormous amount of public funds, in excess of millions of naira, is being frittered away in the name of unearned terminal benefits.
The staffers reportedly stated that NBET, that suffered many financial trespasses in the past, is now on the verge of facing same scenario.
It was gathered that Marilyn Amobi has also perfected plans to pay herself over half a billion naira as terminal benefit and welfare packages, a move which NBET officials described as a gross abuse of civil service rule.
They pointed out that Amobi recently approved the sum N15 million for herself as flight ticket cost to the United States of America (USA) and per-diem, ahead of her exit from office.
On her terminal benefit, Amobi is alleged to have bypassed the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to award herself a humongous amount, in violation of Public Service Rules and Financial Standard.
The outgoing MD was earlier suspended in the December 2019 by the power minister, Saleh Mamman, for alleged gross financial abuse.
She had been reportedly indicted by anti-graft agencies, EFCC and ICPC, just as the Auditor-General of the Federation also found her culpable of maladministration.
In February 2019, media reports detailed how Amobi allegedly made controversial payments to law firms and other consultants.
Following similar pattern, Amobi, in a controversial manner in 2018, approved the sum of N77 million upfront as six-year furniture and rent grants when, in fact, she has less than three years to stay in office.
Insiders in NBET noted that Amobi seem to be in a rush to cook books at the agency and conceal the truth about her tenure, going by her recent moves to restrict workers from the company.
In a recent memo sanctioned by Amobi, she censored those allowed into office to limit those allowed to her cronies in an alleged desperate bid to concoct data and remove files that are likely to further expose her dealings and indict her when she vacates office.
There are palpable fears amid concerned staff that if she is not made to vacate the office immediately, she may succeed in destroying valuable documents, thereby causing a resultant heavy financial loss, not to mention a litany of court cases against NBET for missing or destroyed contract documents.
It would be recalled that Amobi was recently sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari, bringing to an end her controversial stint at the company.
Her sack triggered widespread jubilation among staff who had on several occasions accused her of abuses, including misuse of public funds and maladministration in her almost four years tenure.
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