The head of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRC, Jim Obazee, has been sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Obazee’s sack comes about 48 hours after implementation of his agency’s law led to the exit of Nigeria’s most influential Christian cleric, Enoch Adeboye.
Mr. Adeboye resigned as the general overseer of the Redeemed Church in Nigeria on Saturday, but retained oversight of the global arm of the church.
The FRC rule is established by the Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria, Act No 6, 2011.
The council, which is under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, is responsible for, among others, developing and publishing accounting and financial reporting standards to be observed in the preparation of financial statements of public entities in Nigeria and for related matters.
The Governance Code of 2016 put in place by the agency to implement the Act encompasses three sectors: the private, the public and not-for-profit.
It is the not-for-profit sector, sometimes referred to as the Benevolent Sector, the Third Sector or the Civil Society Sector, that religious bodies fall under.
Section 9.1. of the code states that “The Founder or Leader of a NFPO occupies a special position in the Organisation and is committed to the success and longevity of the NFPO.”
Accordingly, a founder or leader should not take on too many responsibilities in the organisation or have an indefinite term in the running of the organisation, and is expected to not stay in office for more than 20 years.
On the day Mr. Adeboye’s exit was announced by the church, the cleric criticised the meddling of government in church matters.
“The government has been showing increasing interest in church affairs. Unfortunately, for us in RCCG, it might not be very helpful,” he was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Tribune Newspapers during a church service.
President Buhari announced the sack of the FRC boss in a statement by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu.
Mr. Obazee is to be replaced by Daniel Asapokhai while a new board, headed by Adedotun Sulaiman was also constituted for the agency.
No official reason was given for Mr. Obazee’s sack
Read Mr. Shehu’s full statement below:
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate removal and the replacement of the Executive Secretary and the reconstitution of the board of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRN). He has appointed a Chairman and a new Executive Secretary for the council.
The new Council as approved by the President has Adedotun Sulaiman, MFR, as Chairman.
Mr. Sulaiman was a former Managing Partner/Director of Arthur Anderson and later, Accenture. He is a Chartered Accountant and a product of the University of Lagos and Harvard Business School.
The President has also approved the appointment of Daniel Asapokhai as the Executive Secretary of the Council.
Mr. Asapokhai is a partner and a Financial Reporting Specialist at the PricewaterHouseCoopers (PWC), Nigeria.
He is a product of the University of Lagos and the University of Pretoria.
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