Scandal: Where is the Money Bartho?

The University of Nigeria Nsukka under the current leadership of  Professor Bartholomew Okolo, who is the Vice Chancellor, is facing chains of mind-boggling allegations of financial scandal, sham recruitment, unauthorized meddlesomeness in staff emoluments, non-implementation of check-off dues and refusal to set up budget monitoring committee.

Besides, there are eye-popping accusations of  personalization and management of grants, TET Funds, World Bank Step B Project, the appointment of special assistants and development officers, non-accountability of over N2billion generated from the School of Postgraduate Studies, stagnation of staff and manipulation of  promotion procedures, award of double contracts on same project,
failure to account for the N640 million released by the ministry of transport for the maritime project, blatant contravention of the university regulations through indefinite massive suspension of staff on trump up charges, refusal to reconstitute the students’ union government, among others.

Vice chancellor Okolo in his defence has said the allegations are “instigated.”

A joint committee of trade unions, comprising academic and non-academic staff unions, said it was compelled to complain about “the rot, cankerworm, maladministration and dangerous intrigues that are undermining teaching, research, and welfare of staff and general administration of the university,” according to head of ASUU at UNN, Ifeanyichukwu Abada, who spoke at a press briefing.

It came after the unions twice -May 20 and June 18- wrote the vice chancellor and university council to complain of the school being undermined by fundamental man-made and orchestrated afflictions against staff and the university.

A major point was the school’s “flagrantly recruiting and placing [a] Mrs. Oriora to dollar-valued salary of N2.3 million,” said Abada, amidst secrecy woven around UNN’s finances.

The unions said UNN had no committee to monitor its budget and did not involve the union in fund administration, leaving only the vice chancellor in knowledge of  UNN’s income and where it comes from.
Abada said: “We also decried that a few people were secretly recruited and placed four levels over and above their counterparts while a particular staff in the alumni office was recruited and placed on a salary of N500, 000 over and above the salaries of most Professors and Deputy Registrar. Several administrative abuses and recklessness of this nature abound.”

According to him, the unions noted with dismay the flagrant and unceasing penchant by the university administration to embark on “unauthorized deductions in staff salaries ranging from deductions of N2,000 for ICT levy, unilateral 100% increase in house rent, imposition of self-determined rate for electricity bills ranging from N8,000 to N13,000 monthly.”

The unions also accused the VC of not funding the administrative units, departments/faculties and directorates in the institution for the past four and a half years, as well as depriving them statutory services they need to run and forcing their occupants to stretch their personal income for maintenance.

The five-page statement read at the briefing was signed by Chairperson ASUU-UNN, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Abada, Chairman NASU, UNN branch, Comrade Godfrey Ugwu and Chairman, NASU, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus chapter, Comrade P.O. Emeter.

JAC demanded payment for staff owed three months’ salary, though it said available record showed N176,021,802.33 had already been submitted to the Accountant General of the Federation as having been paid to the staff for the periods of February to April 2003.

According to Abada, the unions also brought to the notice of the Council and the VC the refusal by the administration to implement appropriate check-off dues for all the unions. They said the deliberate sabotage by the administration which the unions considered as anti-union practice has placed the school in bad light in the eyes of the mother unions.

The unions called on the school council to investigate use of consultancy services, alleging that they represented “high level of corruption” and were “surrogates to siphon huge amount of money by the Vice Chancellor of the university.”

They also claim the appointment of special assistants and development officers is a “flagrant violation” of previous directives in the report into the affairs of UNN 2004-2010 by a visitation  panel, which rules against use of officials alien to the statutes governing the school.

A prime property in Lagos for the construction of a new liaison office and business facilities, said to be capable of generating N2 billion annually for the school, sparked sharp disagreement between the vice chancellor and JAC.

The Vice Chancellor had during a press briefing to announce the 53rd Founders’ Day Celebration and Golden Jubilee of the first graduates of the university held from October 2nd to 7th, 2013, told journalists that fund mobilization was a critical aspect of higher education administration. He added: “A prime property for the construction of a new liaison office and business facilities capable of generating over N2 billion annually for the university was purchased in Lagos.” But he did not disclose the real cost of, or more details about the said property.

Okolo, who also spoke on how his administration has managed grants from in and outside the country, said through the many partnerships which “we established with universities overseas, TETFUND grant, the Fullbright scholarship, the Commonwealth scholarship and many other grant outlets including internally generated resources, we are able to create opportunities for these young academics to get exposed to international best practices in teaching, research and administration.”

However, Dr. Abada, alongside other top officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Non Academic Staff Union of Universities and Inter University Centres (NASU) in the school, accused the VC of being economical with the truth on certain happenings in the institution.

“Most of the things he said are full of lies. Most of the things he said he is doing, we have not seen any. It is only him that has his method of controlling the funds of the university. We are not aware of such investment as he claimed. The only thing we know is that he made attempt to sell the UNN property in Lagos which the Alumni strongly resisted,” Abada told reporters.

However, when contacted on his mobile phone, Okolo said the issues raised by the unions were “instigated” and calculated at tarnishing his achievements in office. He emphasised that the accusations had no relationship whatsoever with the goings on in the school.

The VC, who did not want to respond specifically to the matters arising from the unions, quickly added:  “The type of growth that has happened in the UNN presently has never happened anywhere since the inception of the institution. It is being testified everywhere and I am yet to believe that it is all the members of the unions that addressed the press conference. If you go through the issues they raised, you will discover that their action is instigated; it has no relationship with what is going on in the school. That is all I can say for now.”

The unions have asked federal government to constitute a judicial commission of enquiry to investigate the activities of the VC and immediate past council and demanded that he be sanctioned for violating the directives of the President and Visitor to the university, as contained in the Visitation Panel Report into the affairs of UNN, 2004-2010.

They also want the council to direct comprehensive review of the recruitment and placement of staff within the life span of the present administration with a view to redressing anomalies and injustice which characterize the administration.

The unions also called for a total auditing of the bursary department in order to determine the finances of the university and how it is managed; to investigate staffing of UNN treasury and awards of contracts as well as the management of over N6billion intervention fund approved by the federal government. They also want the constitution of a federal government panel of enquiry on the management of TET Fund, Step B Project, Maritime and related grants.

The unions said: “The list of atrocities is endless. The few cases stated above are a tip of the iceberg. The unions had since presented these to the university council for consideration.”

Source: Daily Trust NewsPaper