THE attention of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ambrose Alli University, (AAU), Ekpoma Chapter has been drawn to the above subject matter via the print, electronic and social media. In the past three days or so, the general media space has been awash by report of the submission of an interim report by the University’s Special Intervention Team (SIT) set up by the Edo State Government in 2021, following the dissolution of the Chief Lawson Omokhodion-led Governing Council of the University. The report is said to be a summary of activities of the SIT in its two years (2) of the direct management of the University.
Though ASUU has not formally received a copy of the said interim report, the Union is constrained to make this preliminary response because of falsehood, misinformation, incorrect and misleading insinuations the report conveys as being elaborately reported in traditional and social media. Without prejudice to the matter about the legality or otherwise of the SIT that is pending in a court of competent jurisdiction, the Union views the interim report of the SIT as political, deceptive, uninformed, misleading, mischievous and a grand ploy to deceive the public and the Visitor to the University, in particular, to believe that the University is experiencing the purported “government’s vision of repositioning the institution to meet global standards”. The report, in its entirety, is a direct admittance of failure in the administration of the University in the past two (2) years. Indeed, it is a confirmation of the position of the Union earlier canvassed that the SIT, as constituted, lacks the adequate knowledge, exposure and experience in university administration to manage and administer a University in the 21st century. You cannot give what you don’t have!
The controversial aspect of the report that is of immediate concern and worrisome to the Union is what has been perceived as a new discovering by the SIT, namely, massive corrupt practices in the University. The Union has painstakingly examined the “deceptions” dubbed as “discoveries” and “achievements” by the SIT and resolved not to keep silent in terms of waiting for whether another interim or final report to respond. For the avoidance of doubt, the “discoveries” include:
i. the unravelling of a 2 billion naira tax fraud and other corrupt practices by the management and staff of the University, the consequence being that over 2 billion naira was owed the Edo State Government from the tax that was never paid to the state government;
ii. the finding that all the Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs) and school fees collected were not accounted for and all the money entered private pockets instead of the school purse;
iii. the discovery of massive certificate and transcript racketeering and other nefarious acts in the institution;
iv. the finding that AAU, Ekpoma receives more salaries compared to UNIBEN staff and they never pay taxes;
v. The discovery of overhead spending on diesel as a result of bad electricity situation in Ekpoma, resulting in the staff of the institution cashing in on the situation to steal money from the treasury;
vi. That SIT paid a loan of 330 million naira collected to pay salaries in 2021 and another 20 million naira which was meant for the purchase of special vehicles;
vii. That students pay heavily for projects; and
viii. That SIT has paid the April salaries of staff.
The alarm of a 2 billion naira tax fraud in the University is a ploy by the SIT to win itself more into the mind or heart of the Visitor to the University so as to maintain its grip on the administration of the University. It is a claim to cover up for its on-going malfeasance in the University because that is what the Visitor wants to hear. Come to think of it! Are the Lecturers in charge of tax collection for the government? Who are the government appointees responsible for tax collection and remittance? Why were they not named? It is not true that the staff Unions in the university resisted the university authorities in payment of tax. Taxes of staff are deducted by the University Administration directly when salaries are paid and are reflected in the pay slips. In fact, Professors in AAU, Ekpoma pay one of the highest tax as much as 78,000 naira per month. Considering the serious criminal nature of tax evasion or fraud, why have they not been arrested and charged to court?
The Union insists that if there is this “massive” tax fraud in the University one would have expected the report to disclose the name and identity of the officers/staff involved, the action taken by the SIT and their prosecution in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations of the University or in accordance with the law of the state. It should not be a matter of mere general allegation, as is being portrayed by the SIT. The Union condemns any attempt to use a purported tax fraud to blackmail and rubbish the collective integrity of staff of the University. We task and encourage the State Government to prove the veracity of a tax fraud in the University by arresting and prosecuting those involved without further delay.
The claim of a new discovery of theft of all IGRs and school fees in the University is insincere, hypocritical, self-serving and diversionary. The Union is baffled by the disposition of the State Government in feigning ignorance as if it was the first time it will receive report on what has become the unfortunate norm and continuing criminal looting of the finances of the University by the appointees of Government in the University. The Visitor to the University may wish to recall that the Union had, hitherto, written several memoranda on the need to intervene or direct the relevant organs of the University on matter of corrupt practices which include financial improprieties, impunity, abuse of due process and law in the University. In fact, the grave concern for financial probity and accountability in relation to the University’s money being diverted into private pockets had been a nagging issue even before the inauguration of the Omokhodion-led Governing Council by the Visitor to the University in 2018.
The Omokhodion-led Governing Council made modest and concerted effort as contained in its due diligent report in what turned out to be unprecedented mind-blogging revelations of humongous sums of University’s money allegedly diverted by the Administration of the then Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Ignatius Onimawo in collaboration with two of his personal assistants. In that report “the Council discovered that N350 million of AAU funds was transferred from its various bank accounts/revenue units between October 2016 and December 2018 into the private bank accounts of two personal assistants to the VC, namely, Christopher Omo-Iribhogbe and Eugene Eraikhuemen,” a practice which the Chairman of the Council, claimed is a violation of the University’s financial regulations. The Zenith Bank account numbers of the two personal assistants are known and the full investigative report is available at AAU and has been with the Government. It was clearly established in the report that the large sums transferred into the private accounts of the VC’s personal assistants were subsequently paid to the VC, his wife and children. There is also the report that the Council found the VC guilty at the conclusion of its investigations. The report also had it that the “Council discovered that AAU Consult Limited had outstanding receivables of N120 million and owed the University N70 million in advances but no University staff knew from where the receivables could be collected and informed the state government that his Council suspected foul play. In addition, the “Council discovered that a credit balance of N75 million in the liquidated Allstates Trust Bank in favour of AAU and held in the NDIC records had been collected by certain individuals in the University and raised the alarm that the Council appointed auditors were forced to abandon their search for the truth. The state government cannot claim ignorance that the Staff Audit exercise authorized by the Omokhodion-led Council found cases of unknown staff and falsification of records in the files of both academic and non-teaching staff. The Union has confirmed that efforts to discipline the culprits were crippled by certain government officials. The Union would like to most respectfully ask the Visitor to the University if, prior to report of the SIT under reference, he was not informed via reports by Omokhodion-led Council that:
(i) Council found the financial management practices of the former VC and Bursar very strange and opaque. The Bursar was questioned for paying AAU monies into the private accounts of VC’s personal assistants and he claimed the VC approved the practice. In this way the funds of the University were recklessly abused. The statements of the Zenith Bank Savings accounts of Christopher Omo-Iribhogbe and Eugene covering the period June 1, 2016 to May 10, 2021 should be tendered to see the actual amounts of AAU funds transferred into their accounts;
(ii) The financial resources inherent in AAU are immense and an estimate annual internally generated revenue of over N5.5 billion exclusive of government subvention is huge. Council was determined to monitor these funds but VC used his contacts in government to frustrate the efforts.
(iii) Council discovered anomalies in the number of AAU staff. Over 200 staff names not on the University payroll received emoluments as approved by the VC but Council was not allowed to conclude its investigations.
(iv) In the years of 2018/2019, 2020/2021 the acceptance fees paid by new students alone was not less than N1.95 billion naira. Some government officials and the VC frustrated Council choice of independent external auditors. They feared that their hidden transactions would be exposed by the skilled audit team of Messrs. Patrick Oshiobugie and Co.
(v) Council was concerned about the handling of students’ grades by the ICT directorate. Council approved the recommendations of the ICT service provider that the exam results of students should be uploaded directly into the University portal by the respective lecturers after the departmental and faculty boards had approved the results. This was to avoid the past corrupt practice where all students’ marks were first sent to the ICT director, who would then review the results before posting them on the University portal. The ICT director used this scheme to enrich himself and his co-lecturers while corrupting the quality of the grades and killing academic standards.
(vi) Council also had a running battle with the management over the actual number of university students. The figures from the Registrar’s office never tallied with the figures from the ICT. Students’ number always varied between 34,000 and 37,000 students. The explanation was that many who called themselves students did not register for courses or paid tuition fees. Council then resolved that students’ class registration and payment of tuition fees must be simultaneously done and a print-out must be generated to so confirm a successful operation. It is necessary to monitor this system. The past VC was indifferent.
The Union can go on and on. Suffice it to state that Mr. Austin Osakue, who is today a member of the present SIT was in the Omokhodion-led Governing Council. At present, Mr. Osakue is well-known, in and outside the university community, as the de facto Chairman of SIT, having relegated Mr. Andrew Olotu, to a background of irrelevance in decisions and policies of SIT in the University. If not, why on earth should he be the one to present the interim report to the Visitor to the University, while Mr. Olotu, the Chairman, sat as a spectator watching the presentation. It is absurd for Mr. Osakue and the SIT to be pretending and deceiving the public with a report of a novel discovery of massive corrupt practices in AAU, Ekpoma. There has also been a pending report of the Visitation Panel to the University in 2020 and the Due Diligence Report. Why has Government not acted on the reports of various probe committees and the Visitation Panel report pending before it? Rather the Visitor to the University and Edo State Government went ahead to dissolve the Omokhodion-led Council and set up SIT, with Austin Osakue, who was an active member of the Council as member. What was the justifying reason of appointing Mr. Osakue as a member of SIT? Ridiculously, Mr. Osakue has remained the defector Chairman of SIT since its constitution.
The state government and the SIT have the powers in the relevant laws of the University to deal with corrupt practices. How many of the infractions in these reports have been punished by the state government in accordance with due process? The Union expected the report to name the staff that have been sanctioned for corrupt practices during the period under review. It is in the public domain how the immediate VC, Prof. Onimawo in his address to staff in front of the University’s administration block on his last day in the university boasted of his special relationship with the Governor and Visitor to the University, Mr. G. O. Obaseki and the confidence that the government had on him and hence waited for him to complete his tenure.
The Union finds it difficult to believe that the inaction of the State Government on the reports of sundry corrupt practices in the University before it, and the refusal of Government to release and issue white paper on the report of the Special Visitation Panel to the University in 2020 set-up by it is not contrary to the statement credited to the Visitor to the University that the state government has the political will to deal with corruption in the University. The Union encourages the State Government to make good its avowed commitment to repositioning the University by dealing with all previous and present cases of corrupt practices and infractions on the regulations, rules and laws of the University. Otherwise, the State Government should be blamed and held responsible for the continuing reign of corrupt practices in the institution.
The Union is bemused by the SIT’s claim of “massive certificate and transcript racketeering and other nefarious acts in the institution.” One would have expected the SIT to inform the Visitor to the University and the public the identities of staff prosecuted for it in line with the University’s rules and regulations. In any case, are lecturers involved in the issuance of certificates in the University and how can they be said to be involved in certificate racketeering? Is it Lecturers that buy diesel for the operation of electricity for the University or people in the Administration who are government appointees? Who are the persons involved and why did the SIT not name the staff involved and put them on trial? The mere vague allegation of massive certificate and transcript racketeering and other nefarious acts in the institution is a ploy to mislead and divert the attention of the public from the real problems of the University which this SIT has evidently compounded. It has also revealed its incompetence and lack of capacity in dealing with the lingering problems in the University.
The Union views the claim that “AAU receives more salaries compared to UNIBEN staff and they never pay taxes” as laughable and a desperate attempt to justify the unilateral, illegal and unjust alteration of the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) in the University by SIT. It confirms SIT’s depth of ignorance on the workings of a University in relation to what makes up the salary of academic staff in public universities in Nigeria. The University System in Nigeria is one, particularly in respect to the salary structure of workers. Being a public university like UNIBEN, AAU, Ekpoma is guided by the centrally approved salary structure of CONUASS in the payment of salaries/wages of academic staff. There are allowances, like responsibility allowance and excess workload, which are not normally computed with the monthly salaries of academic staff in some universities. For example, in some universities excess work load allowance is separately paid, that is, it is not computed with the monthly salary of academic staff. UNIBEN for now is in this category like many other federal universities where such allowances have not been mainstreamed into salaries for now. In AAU, Ekpoma some of these allowances have been mainstreamed into salaries. In UNIBEN, excess workload is paid outside salaries. It is, therefore, erroneous to claim that “AAU receives more salaries compared to UNIBEN staff”. Instead of conducting due diligence and proper investigation to know the relevant details of the computation of salary of academic staff in AAU, Ekpoma vis-à-vis other universities, the SIT went to town to expose its ignorance that AAU workers earn more than UNIBEN staff. The SIT didn’t have the intelligence to go to DELSU and RUST that are state-owned universities to find out what they are earning as salaries. In addition, AAU, Ekpoma has always defaulted in the payment of several allowances, which makes payment of arrears inevitable.
It is also far from the truth that “we never pay taxes in the university”. What is obtainable in the University is that taxes are deducted at source of payment of salaries. There is no escape route for any staff because the tax due against each member of staff must be deducted by the University Administration before effecting the payment of salaries to workers. The workers’ pay slips are available to put a lie to the erroneous claim by the SIT about non-payment of taxes by workers in the University. If workers in the University never pay taxes, it sounds contradictory to claim that a 2 billion naira was owed the Edo State Government from the tax that was never remitted to the state government. If after the deduction of tax from the workers it is not remitted to the state government, it is a different thing all together. It should not be taken that workers are not paying tax in the University. It is just the same way the University Administration had been involved in the deduction of Unions’ check-off dues and sundry deductions from salaries of workers without remitting it to the appropriate bodies. The University is presently in default of payment of more than 2 billion naira of arrears of trade unions’ check-off dues, cooperative savings and other deductions in the University.
It is interesting to note the ease in which the SIT brought in UNIBEN in comparism with AAU, Ekpoma in relation to salaries/wages. One would have expected the SIT’s report to also compare with UNIBEN, if selective payment of salaries is obtainable in UNIBEN as presently the situation in AAU, Ekpoma. Yes, the April salaries have been paid, again, to some selected staff in the University after unjustifiable and illegal slashes. Is this possible in UNIBEN? Is the situation in UNIBEN and in AAU, Ekpoma where there is abrupt stoppage of salaries of workers who have not committed any offence? Even in suspension from workplace, a worker is entitled to a half pay in a standard University till the matter is disposed off. Sadly, no fewer than 350 staff of the University have had their salaries suddenly stopped on the arbitrary order or directive of the University’s SIT without any form of query or existing disciplinary action instituted against the affected individual staff. No specific reason or explanation offered till date to the affected staff. There are some members of staff in AAU, Ekpoma who have not been paid their January and February 2022 salaries when there was no strike, and till date, they have not been paid. In any case, Is SIT in UNIBEN? Could an NCE holder, lacking university education, the basic requisite experience and exposure in university administration, be appointed into the Governing Council of UNIBEN or any other standard university? So many odd things are happening in AAU, Ekpoma that give room for serious concerns.
This Union is surprised that the report is also silent on the immense sums of money being collected by the members of the SIT under the guise of seating, travelling and other bogus allowances. The SIT should avail the Visitor to the University and the public the total amount of money it spent for allowances and activities in its two years in the University. What is the total amount of internally generated revenue, including school fees in the University during the period under review? Has SIT attracted any fund outside the University for the infrastructural development of the University during the period under review? They should publish this report to assist in the appreciation of the so-called achievements of SIT, particularly for being able to offset “the loan of 330 million naira collected to pay salaries in 2021 and another 20 million naira which was meant for the purchase of special vehicles”. Why is the report silent on the key issues of poor funding, lack of input from Edo State Government in the infrastructural development of the University, total apathy to staff welfare, huge backlog of unpaid salaries, gratuities and pension? It is most ridiculous that the SIT could not give the Visitor to the University a comprehensive report, for instance, on the state of payment of gratuities/death benefits in the University.
What is new about the claim that “students pay heavily for projects” in the University? Who are the lecturers and non-teaching staff involved? Are they not the “bad eggs” among the academic staff who work with SIT to sustain illegalities and impunity in the University? Are they not the few “corrupt but untouchables” staff who willingly make themselves available for any “government in power” in the university to carry out the biddings of every successive university administration? The Union has never hidden its disdain for acts of corruption in the University as evidenced in the series of memoranda to successive university administration to investigate sharp and corrupt practices in the University, irrespective of who is involved. In June 2021, the Union petitioned the University Administration to cause investigation into the report of alteration and manipulation of results, forceful sales of textbooks and illegal collection of monies in the University’s College of Medicine. Similarly, in July 2021, the Union also alerted the University Administration on unwholesome administrative breaches and unethical practices in the Departments of Business Administration, Accounting, and in the Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences. The Union learnt that investigative panels were set up with reports consigned to the waste bin of history?
The Union does not want to go into the Visitor’s response to the interim report but wishes to advise that the Visitor to the University and the public should not be deceived by the so-called interim report of massive corrupt practices in the University. The fact is that SIT has failed woefully, having unable to arrest the key problems plaguing the University. Their strange activities in the two years under review have completely destroyed the cherished idea of university autonomy. Imagine the listing of establishment of a fuel dump and intelligent access cards where members of staff are made to pay toll fees to enter their office as part of the milestone. Which establishment, government or private, in Nigeria are workers made to pay toll fee to their offices? A university cannot be properly administered and managed as an appendage of Government House where decisions and policies on academic and administrative matters are taken and foisted on the University in a military fashion. As a result of the present comatose situation of the University, the SIT will be leaving the University worse than it met it 2 years ago.
· Enough of the grandstanding of SIT with little or no experience in university governance.
· Enough of the witch-hunt of trade unions in the University.
· Enough of the intimidation, victimization and chasing of workers’ unions and their leaders as perceived enemies of the State.
· Enough of playing to the gallery of ethnic chauvinism and politics in the struggle to restore the university on the path of due process and rule of law.
The Union advises the Visitor to the University to heed the clarion calls of all well-meaning stakeholders and take the appropriate step to restore the University to the path of genuine academic tradition and progress. It is axiomatic that the steps available to all and sundry at this critical moment in the historical trajectory of the University are simple, straightforward and unambiguous.
i. Constitute a proper Governing Council that is made up of persons of integrity, requisite university education/background, vast knowledge, experience and exposure in university administration;
ii. Stem the undue government interference in the day-to-day administration of the University to allow the Governing Council the free hand to run, manage and administer the University in strict compliance with the rules and regulations as well as the law of the University;
iii. A marching order to the Governing Council to deal with all outstanding problems in the university in a time-frame of 6 months;
iv. Restore the annual state budgetary allocation and the monthly subvention to the University. In other words, increased state funding to the University; and
v. Act on the various reports of probe panels and release a white paper on the report of the Visitation Panel of 2020.
These above recommendations are the benchmark that will ensure positive impact in teaching, learning and research in the University. In conclusion, the Visitor should please respect his decision he had with stakeholders in the meeting of 16th March, 2023 in the University.
Signed:
Dr. Cyril Oziegbe Onogbosele Dr. Willam Odion
Chairperson, ASUU, AAU, Ekpoma Assistant Secretary, ASUU, AAU, Ekpoma
For and on behalf of all members of ASUU, AAU, Ekpoma.
