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Management of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), Kaduna, had an explanation ready. The Board was new, it said. It needed a smooth take-off. So it approved that “a limited number of staff be encouraged, on passionate grounds, to acquire the certificates to enhance productivity.”
The certificates in question were professional qualifications. The fees ₦1,166,933.33 across four vouchers were paid to professional bodies for staff induction and course fees tied to individual career progression. And the Board paid them with public money. Establishment Circular HCSF/PSO/666/11/214 of 1 April 2009 is direct on this point: professional fees tied to career progression are to be borne by the officer, not by the agency.
The reasoning behind the rule is straightforward. A professional certificate acquired by an individual belongs to that individual. It follows them if they leave. It raises their market value, advances their career, and stays with them for life. When the agency pays, public money is being used to fund a private benefit, one the officer keeps regardless of whether they remain in service. That is a misapplication of funds. It is also, in the audit’s assessment, a loss of government funds.
Management’s response did not dispute the payments. It framed them as an investment in productivity, justified by the Board’s newness and a desire for a smooth take-off. Then it closed with a line that has become familiar across audit responses: “Your advice has been noted and will guide against future occurrences.”
That phrase does two things. It acknowledges the finding without accepting it as a breach. And it treats the correction as forward-looking, a promise about future conduct rather than an accounting for money already spent. The financial review does not accept that framing. The finding stands, and so does the recovery.
Both flow from the same root: money approved for a purpose the circular does not permit. “Passionate grounds” is not a legal basis for spending public money. Neither is a desire to enhance productivity, however genuine. The circular draws a clear line between what an agency may pay for and what an officer must fund themselves, and this expenditure fell on the wrong side of it. The Board is directed to account for and recover ₦1,166,933.33 and remit it to the Treasury. Failing that, sanctions under Paragraph 3106 of the Financial Regulations 2009 apply.
