Allegations of theft, collection of estacodes without travelling, bribery of anti corruption agencies, award of contracts to own companies of a N2b corruption scandal presnrtly rocking Nigeria’s premier national institution the Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech.
The institution has been rocked by bribery and other scnadals but the latest accusation comes from the embattled Bursar of the institution, Mr Olu Ibirogba who accused the Rector, Dr Kudirat Oladipupo of looting N2 billion from the institution.
The bursar let the cat out of the bag when he visited the Education Writers Association of Nigeria (EWAN), during their monthly meeting at the NUJ Secretary, Ikeja.
Reports said even though the country’s EFCC, ICPC and the media have been petitioned about the allegations, the institutions seem to have been compromised as they have refused to act on it.
Ibirogba was therefore forced to storm the education writers’ meeting with a chattered accountant colleague from Yabatech and urged the fourth estate of the realm to plead with Mr President to urgently investigate the corruption that has eaten deep into the fabric of the institution.
Embezzled to the tune of N2 billion in five years
He lamented that within five years in office, the rector of the college, Dr Kudirat Oladipupo has embezzled N2 billion which the Bursar was aware of.
The bursar who levelled the allegations against the rector, presented relevant financial documents to backup his claims.
He said:”Conservatively, she has stolen from Yabatech N2b in the last five years. From each contract, she collects 80 per cent. Many times, she will negotiate directly by herself from the contractors.”
Asked if he could give instances of those corrupt acts, he maintained that he could give six or seven instances.
List of Rector’s thefts
1.Generator
Ibirogba who spoke for over forty five minutes answering questions from journalists and quoting figures and dates without a piece of paper as a guide in his hands said: “when we wanted to repair a generator that got burnt April 18, 2010, she committed fraud.
“The policy is that any contract whether supply or consultancy that is more than N2.5 million, the regulation says you must advertise. But she did not advertise rather she gave it to AIICO. She told a lie that the burnt generator spoilt on May 15 instead of April 18 and the lie is being sustained by the police.
2. Supply of equipment
“Besides, when we gave a contract for the supply of equipment to a company in 2010, the rule is that if you pay 15 per cent of mobilization to a contractor after 30days and the contract is not executed, you should ask the company to refund the money and collect back the mobilisation fee and let the contractor be blacklisted.
In our own case, the company was given a contract and was paid mobilisation of N2.5 m and the contract was not executed about one year.
“So we wrote to the bank as well as the company to collect back the money, but our rector wrote to the bank that the letter written by the bursar should be dishonoured. Why would she be defending the contractor and not the College?
- Rector, PRO, siphon Yabatech funds through private companies
“The rector has a company called Spices Nigeria Limited. If the chief executive of government corporation has a company where she is a director and the same time, that is disloyalty.
“There is a staff of the college called Adekunle Adams who was our former Public Relations, used two companies to get contract in Yabatech and to collect contracts for the rector.”
4. EFCC informed
“We have submitted this to EFCC and it has been verified.
5. Collects N25m, $30, 000 estacodes without any trips
“The rector has collected more than 25 million naira in the last five years for holidays and foreign trips including estacode for about $30,000 dollars and she has never embarked on any of this trip and also never returned the money.”
6. Rector awards self N5m security vote monthly
On security vote of 5 million Naira collected by our rector every month, Ibirogba said: “To the best of my knowledge, no provost of colleges of education, no rector of federal polytechnic, vice chancellor of federal university collect any security vote.
“Our rector collects 5 million Naira as security vote saying, it is for intelligence gathering.”In the petition I wrote to the president, I stated that we have security staff of not less than 150, we have about six security companies.
Each employed twenty, making 120, we equally have the police in Sabo that we give money to every month. We have Man O war, cadets on campus that we kit to assist on security issues. This security vote is not paid to a security company, but paid to the rector personal account. N5,000000 every month which is N60m yearly. If she is talking about intelligence gathering, which security company is she paying? Which material is she buying? This is fraud!
I have asked so many bursary of federal institutions and they told me it is strange.”
Council chair Chief Ebeneze Babatope fingered in N10m scandal
According to the bursar, the rector is not the only person in this mess, fingering also Chairman of Governing Council, Chief Ebenezer Babatope.
His words: “Let me mention one that involves Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Chairman Governing Council, between May 2013 and May 2015. He said he was travelling officially- whether to Kaduna or Abuja on behalf of Yabatech. Necessary funds were requested and paid for him and a staff, Mr Adams Adekunle whom he said will accompany him, he did not travelled as documented and the money not returned to the school treasury. EFCC has confirmed this to be true that Adams had transferred more than N10 million into the account of Babatope.”
“When chief Babatope came on board, reluctantly he met with the rector and myself which I explained a lot of things to him. At the meeting the chairman told the rector that she should not allow the bursar to end up as a pauper and that was around July 2013 and I told him that it is not a matter of ending as a pauper. Whatever the rector wants to do I don’t have problem with it once she follows the government regulation.
Rector says Bursar doesn’t want to eat
“In her response, she said it was the bursar that did not want to eat. The way they see it, is that all of us should be sharing in a pool. As a matter of fact the rector has told some people that it was because she did not allow me to share in the loot that is why I am fighting her after all other people have done bad thing in the past.
“My argument is this: Our society must keep on improving by compliance with the law and she would not want to because according her, she has come to make money. So that by the time she finishes her second term she will not have any cause to look back. I am con tempted with decent living. We have had the cause to meet with ex minister of education, Mrs. Rufai’ and she promised to turn a new leaf but she never did.
Buhari, please probe allegations
“We have sent a note of appeal to President Mohammadu Buhari (PMB) to assist us because police to a large extent have compromised including ICPC and a lot of pressure has been put on EFCC not to investigate the misappropriation of fund at the management level.
Why will somebody who supposed to be investigated write to EFCC and ICPC that there is no cause to investigate her because she has achieved so much at Yabatech..
“Also, it was in our record that Chairman Governing Council, Chief Ebenezer Babatope wrote to EFCC and ICPC that they should not investigate. We have given the document to both EFCC and ICPC including Federal Ministry of Education but they did not do anything.
“They received our document on the 29 November 2013 and no investigation was done. As we speak today, my colleague has been sacked and I was suspended on October 2013, but we thank God we won at the court where they ordered my reinstatement and the same day I was served with a letter of termination of appointment.
“We are not saying President should reorder our reinstatement because we have approached judiciary, this impunity and affront must not continue.”
EFCC romances corruption
” We have documented series of infraction committed by the management of the school. Unfortunately, we thought they would do justice and impartial to investigate the fraud rocking the school when Council was inaugurated in April 2013 but they decided to romance with the perpetrator of the criminal stealing of our commonwealth.
“To a very large extent, the rector has used the purse of the school to steal huge amount of money and suppress the information as well as victimise those of us they perceive that know so much and capable to expose the stealing and diversion of public fund. Thus, eight accountants of the school are either sacked or suspended because she felt we know about the fraud going on.
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