Lafia — The recently disengaged Commissioner for Education in Nasarawa State, Comrade Hussaini Abubakar has refunded N38,833,116 to the state sub-treasury, after he discovered an excess payment to the ministry for the registration of students for the 2012 National Examination Council (NECO).

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura approved the release of N231,429,500 for the registration of 24,361 candidates from 222 public schools across the state, after a memo was written to him by the ministry.

The memo was based on an inflated data made available to the ministry by principals of some of the schools, Weekly Trust findings at the state Ministry of Finance, showed, following which the funds release was made.

Murtala Nuhu Isa, the ministry's Information Officer confirmed to Weekly Trust, yesterday that the ministry made the memo based on the data provided by the principals of the schools, to attract the sum which extra payment totaled over N38 million.

Isa said the commissioner reported to the governor after he discovered during a screening at NECO, that only 20,271 candidates sat for the previous year's Mock Examination, and not the 24,361 submitted to him by the principals.

"In the end, only N192,596,384 was paid to the NECO to cover the 20,721 candidates across the state, and not the N231,429,500 which was released to the ministry after the governor's approval. After the payment, an excess of N38,833.116 was realized, and the commissioner insisted it must return to the sub-treasury. He reported the development to the governor", Isa added.