By Uche Onyeali
Some aggrieved senior lecturers of the University of Abuja, UniAbj, have called for the investigation of alleged N3 billion fraud uncovered by a report of the 2021 Presidential Visitation Panel to the university for the 2019/2020 academic session.
While the university has denied breaching any law in the appointment of Professor Aisha Maikudi, the lecturers, who pleaded anonymity, claim that there was a sinister ploy by individuals complicit in the alleged fraud to put her at the helm of affairs in order to deter any investigation.
According to them, the report, which was submitted to former Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and published on the ministry’s website, showed that there were a series of discrepancies in audited reports during the 2019/2020 session, adding that there was failure of the then governing council to take measures to correct them.
They alleged a correlation between the appointment of Professor Maikudi as Vice -Chancellor of the university and attempts to cover up activities of the then Governing Council which was chaired by Alhaji Sani Maikudi, father of the vice chancellor.
It would be recalled that on June 11, 2021, the Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Abuja, chaired by Alhaji Bujar Goni Ajị and inaugurated on April 13, 2021, submitted its report within 60 days, covering 2011-2015 and 2016-2020.
“The panel observed that the governing council had taken policy steps of boosting the IGR base of the university through upward review of student fees and blocking of leakages in payments.
“To this effect, the council approved the engagement of Messrs Edutech Portal Solutions, at the cost N18,900,000, for the deployment of Student Fees Management Portal to block leakages in payments.
“The panel, however, noted that based on the official students enrolment and the approved fees as at 2019/2020 session, the university had the propensity of generating N 4,869,033,958 as against N1,654,896,918 declared by the bursary in the panel’s DGT (see Chap 4 & Vol II, Appendix 50, Page 437)./,” the 342 page report said in part.
The panel also recommended that “Council should investigate the wide discrepancy between the figure of the IGR from students fees as declared by the bursary and that deduced by the panel from the official enrolment data and approved fees and
charges.”
Meanwhile, the lecturers, who spoke to newsmen at the weekend, alleged that the immediate past Vice -Chancellor, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, was in cohort with the current vice chancellor to ensure that no action is taken on the damning report.
Na’Allah’s tenure was marked by industrial crisis with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
He was accused of prioritising personal interests in certain official engagements, allegedly breaching sections of the university’s Act and administrative protocols.
Tensions reached a boiling point on May 2, 2024, just two months before his exit, when ASUU declared an indefinite strike.
