A new report by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP) has revealed how “most allegations of corruption in federal
universities such as unfair allocation of grades; contract
inflation, truncation of staff’s salary on the pay roll; employment
of unqualified staff; Senator Dino Melaye’s certificate scandal
saga; examination malpractices; sexual harassment; issuance of
results for expelled student to graduate; and sales of university
certificates for undeserving persons have neither been thoroughly
investigated nor punished.”
The report titled “Stealing the future”: How federal
universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption
says, “impunity for corruption in the university system has
negatively affected the governance of federal universities and the
quality of education received by the students.”
The 58 pages report was launched today at the CITI-HEIGHT
Hotels, Sheraton Opebi Link Road, Ikeja, Lagos with the support of
MacArthur Foundation. The report presented to the media by Dr.
Bolajoko Dixon-Ogbechi Nkemdinim, Associate Professor of Business
Administration and Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration,
University of Lagos discloses that
“Most of the time lecturers miss classes and they never get
punished. Getting a job in the universities is not the question of
merit but of connections. Ghost workers syndrome is a problem in
the universities.”
According to the report, “There have been cases where staff have
used their official status to prevent the administration of justice
in their units/departments; universities sometimes recruit mediocre
or totally unsuitable candidates in preference to candidates of
high merit. Most of the time when non-academic staff are not at
their duty posts they never get punished. People with questionable
degrees/qualifications paid bribes to get into the university
system. In several cases, people employed by federal universities
through connection with political authorities.”
The report which used the University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria as case studies identified other cases of
corruption in the university system to include: “bribery to get a
position; NYSC mobilisation before graduation; facilitating fake
transcripts; short-circuiting employment procedures; auctioning
university assets without authorisation; politicised disciplinary
action; inflated contracts, admission irregularities and
racketeering, result falsification; nepotism; sexual harassment;
examination question leakages, abetting examination malpractices;
and deliberate poor invigilation of examinations.”
According to Dr. Dixon-Ogbechi Nkemdinim, “The research team
administered questionnaires and conducted interviews at the main
campus and College of Medicine of the University of Lagos. The team
also visited the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where the
instrument was also administered at its two campuses. The report
focuses mainly on federal universities even though there are three
different categories of universities in Nigeria namely, federal,
state and private universities.”
The report read in part: “The focus on federal universities is
important because the Federal Government of Nigeria is the
custodian of tertiary education at the national level and it
directs and controls the affairs of the parastatals in charge of
tertiary education system in Nigeria to a very large extent.”
“We also found several unresolved cases of diversion of
university funds for personal use; embezzlement, mismanagement,
unmerited allocation of hostel accommodation, discrimination in the
allocation of staff quarters; certificate/transcript racketeering;
improper use of university assets; inflation of cost of contracts,
award of contracts to friends or relatives; and admission
racketeering by non-staff.”
The report launch was attended by Mr Femi Falana SAN; Barrister
Babatunde Ogala; Dr Olumide Ajayi Director African Leadership
Forum; Mrs Jumoke Akiyode; Ms Funmi Oluyede member, National
Executive Council of FIDA Nigeria; and representatives of
representatives of the media; the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Osun State Governor Rauf
Aregbesola, Dr Adeleke Ipaye. They all promised to work with SERAP
to address corruption and bribery in the university system. SP
Binga from the ICPC specifically promise to look into all the
allegations contained in the report.
Falana said, “In 2017, over N200bn was disbursed by TETFund to
our universities. Neither ASUU nor any of the campus unions
monitored the disbursement of the funds. Also, how many companies
are paying 2% of its annual profit to support our university
system? The bulk of the funds meant to improve the universities end
up in the pocket of the contractors. 3 Vice Chancellors are
currently standing trials for looting funds allocated for running
the universities.”
Falana also said, “Based on the 1992 FG-ASUU Agreement the
federal government was compelled to enact the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund Act. The Act has established the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund (TETFUND) as an intervention agency charged with the
responsibility for managing, disbursing and monitoring the
education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Pursuant
to section 1 of the Act every company shall contribute education
tax of 2% of its annual profit to the TETFUND.”
“Professor Baffa, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND announced
in March this year the commencement of activities to kickstart the
2017 disbursement of the whopping sum of N213 billion to the
nation’s tertiary institutions. If TETFUND can disburse N213
billion in one year it is my view that if the education tax is well
managed it will go a long way in addressing the crisis of
underfunding of our tertiary institutions,” Falana said.
“Just recently, it was reported that the new management of the
Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) paid N5 billion to the
TSA. The money was realised from the sale of admission forms to
applicants seeking admission to the tertiary institutions in 2017.
Meanwhile, university administrators have not accounted for the
money realised from the sale of post jamb examination forms.”
“Following the recent arraignment at the federal high court of
one of the Vice Chancellors for allegedly stealing the sum of N1.4
billion, the staff and students of his university invaded the court
and practically forced the trial judge to vacate his order for the
remand of the accused in prison custody! Before then, the same
staff and students had demonstrated for days in the office of the
EFCC in a bid to prevent the filing of charges against the indicted
Vice Chancellor. This is not surprising as has never taken any
position in the massive looting of the commonwealth by the members
of the political class who are aided by the governments and
financial institutions of western countries.”
“Having fought and won the battle for university autonomy the
ASUU should ensure that the internal machinery of each university
is deployed to prevent the diversion of public funds. It is high
time ASUU established a committee for the purpose of monitoring the
management of public funds in the universities, the collection of
the 2% education tax by all registered companies in the country and
the disbursement of fund to universities by TETFUND. Unless the
public funds allocated to the universities are judiciously spent by
the management it is morally indefensible on the part of ASUU to
continue to embark on industrial action to press for adequate
funding of tertiary institutions and improved working conditions of
the staff,” Falana added.
According to the report, “Other cases of corruption being
covered up are: falsification of results; extortion of students;
late payment of money due to staff for examination invigilation,
excess workload and other allowances; and collection of bribes
before signing official documents; intimidation and victimisation
by superior officials; promoting preferred staff ahead of others
who are equally or more qualified; and deliberately delaying the
progress of Ph.D candidates because of departmental politics.”
The report also read: “We also found cases of lecturers writing
students’ research projects and extorting fees from them; students
fronting for lecturers to extort from other students; stealing and
misappropriation of university funds; falsification of age;
diversion of funds; and ghost workers syndrome; impersonation
during examinations; forgery; and diverting internally-generated
revenues into personal account.”
“Although the originally proposed sampling locations were Lagos
(University of Lagos) and Abuja (University of Abuja), the
University of Abuja could not be accessed because the institution
was on vacation. Hence, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was
used as a feasible substitute.”
“The judgmental sampling procedure was to select the relevant
universities; simple random sampling procedure was used to select
the relevant departments/units at the University of Lagos while the
snowball sampling procedure was used to select the relevant
departments/units at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Thereafter, the convenience sampling procedure was used to select
the sample subjects from the two universities.”
“The authorities should also publish blacklists (i.e., lists
showing individuals guilty of corrupt practices) by the university
administration; including provisions designed to ensure the proper
conservation and use of resources entrusted to staff in the
performance of their jobs in the university’s condition of service;
and involve the unions and other stakeholders in deciding how funds
are to be used for projects in the university and developing
sanctions for staff that do not report corrupt practices.”
“Most of the findings may only be applicable to federal
universities, in broadly generalised manner. Another constraint
encountered was the respondents’ reluctance to fill the
questionnaires because of their apprehension about consequences or
their busy schedules. However, this limitation was overcome through
persuasion and repeat visitations to them.”
“Because it was not feasible to serially investigate all the
institutions in the education sector in Nigeria all at once because
of the enormous diversity in their geographical locations, this
study focused on federal universities in Nigeria. Hence,
questionnaires, personal interviews and observation techniques were
used to gather data from relevant staff and students at the two
selected federal universities. A sample of 1,500 respondents
comprising of 900 students, 300 academic and 300 non-academic staff
was taken from the two federal universities under study.”
A new report by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP) has revealed how “most allegations of corruption in federal
universities such as unfair allocation of grades; contract
inflation, truncation of staff’s salary on the pay roll; employment
of unqualified staff; Senator Dino Melaye’s certificate scandal
saga; examination malpractices; sexual harassment; issuance of
results for expelled student to graduate; and sales of university
certificates for undeserving persons have neither been thoroughly
investigated nor punished.”
The report titled “Stealing the future”: How federal
universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption
says, “impunity for corruption in the university system has
negatively affected the governance of federal universities and the
quality of education received by the students.”
The 58 pages report was launched today at the CITI-HEIGHT
Hotels, Sheraton Opebi Link Road, Ikeja, Lagos with the support of
MacArthur Foundation. The report presented to the media by Dr.
Bolajoko Dixon-Ogbechi Nkemdinim, Associate Professor of Business
Administration and Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration,
University of Lagos discloses that
“Most of the time lecturers miss classes and they never get
punished. Getting a job in the universities is not the question of
merit but of connections. Ghost workers syndrome is a problem in
the universities.”
According to the report, “There have been cases where staff have
used their official status to prevent the administration of justice
in their units/departments; universities sometimes recruit mediocre
or totally unsuitable candidates in preference to candidates of
high merit. Most of the time when non-academic staff are not at
their duty posts they never get punished. People with questionable
degrees/qualifications paid bribes to get into the university
system. In several cases, people employed by federal universities
through connection with political authorities.”
The report which used the University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria as case studies identified other cases of
corruption in the university system to include: “bribery to get a
position; NYSC mobilisation before graduation; facilitating fake
transcripts; short-circuiting employment procedures; auctioning
university assets without authorisation; politicised disciplinary
action; inflated contracts, admission irregularities and
racketeering, result falsification; nepotism; sexual harassment;
examination question leakages, abetting examination malpractices;
and deliberate poor invigilation of examinations.”
According to Dr. Dixon-Ogbechi Nkemdinim, “The research team
administered questionnaires and conducted interviews at the main
campus and College of Medicine of the University of Lagos. The team
also visited the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where the
instrument was also administered at its two campuses. The report
focuses mainly on federal universities even though there are three
different categories of universities in Nigeria namely, federal,
state and private universities.”
The report read in part: “The focus on federal universities is
important because the Federal Government of Nigeria is the
custodian of tertiary education at the national level and it
directs and controls the affairs of the parastatals in charge of
tertiary education system in Nigeria to a very large extent.”
“We also found several unresolved cases of diversion of
university funds for personal use; embezzlement, mismanagement,
unmerited allocation of hostel accommodation, discrimination in the
allocation of staff quarters; certificate/transcript racketeering;
improper use of university assets; inflation of cost of contracts,
award of contracts to friends or relatives; and admission
racketeering by non-staff.”
The report launch was attended by Mr Femi Falana SAN; Barrister
Babatunde Ogala; Dr Olumide Ajayi Director African Leadership
Forum; Mrs Jumoke Akiyode; Ms Funmi Oluyede member, National
Executive Council of FIDA Nigeria; and representatives of
representatives of the media; the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Osun State Governor Rauf
Aregbesola, Dr Adeleke Ipaye. They all promised to work with SERAP
to address corruption and bribery in the university system. SP
Binga from the ICPC specifically promise to look into all the
allegations contained in the report.
Falana said, “In 2017, over N200bn was disbursed by TETFund to
our universities. Neither ASUU nor any of the campus unions
monitored the disbursement of the funds. Also, how many companies
are paying 2% of its annual profit to support our university
system? The bulk of the funds meant to improve the universities end
up in the pocket of the contractors. 3 Vice Chancellors are
currently standing trials for looting funds allocated for running
the universities.”
Falana also said, “Based on the 1992 FG-ASUU Agreement the
federal government was compelled to enact the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund Act. The Act has established the Tertiary Education
Trust Fund (TETFUND) as an intervention agency charged with the
responsibility for managing, disbursing and monitoring the
education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Pursuant
to section 1 of the Act every company shall contribute education
tax of 2% of its annual profit to the TETFUND.”
“Professor Baffa, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND announced
in March this year the commencement of activities to kickstart the
2017 disbursement of the whopping sum of N213 billion to the
nation’s tertiary institutions. If TETFUND can disburse N213
billion in one year it is my view that if the education tax is well
managed it will go a long way in addressing the crisis of
underfunding of our tertiary institutions,” Falana said.
“Just recently, it was reported that the new management of the
Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) paid N5 billion to the
TSA. The money was realised from the sale of admission forms to
applicants seeking admission to the tertiary institutions in 2017.
Meanwhile, university administrators have not accounted for the
money realised from the sale of post jamb examination forms.”
“Following the recent arraignment at the federal high court of
one of the Vice Chancellors for allegedly stealing the sum of N1.4
billion, the staff and students of his university invaded the court
and practically forced the trial judge to vacate his order for the
remand of the accused in prison custody! Before then, the same
staff and students had demonstrated for days in the office of the
EFCC in a bid to prevent the filing of charges against the indicted
Vice Chancellor. This is not surprising as has never taken any
position in the massive looting of the commonwealth by the members
of the political class who are aided by the governments and
financial institutions of western countries.”
“Having fought and won the battle for university autonomy the
ASUU should ensure that the internal machinery of each university
is deployed to prevent the diversion of public funds. It is high
time ASUU established a committee for the purpose of monitoring the
management of public funds in the universities, the collection of
the 2% education tax by all registered companies in the country and
the disbursement of fund to universities by TETFUND. Unless the
public funds allocated to the universities are judiciously spent by
the management it is morally indefensible on the part of ASUU to
continue to embark on industrial action to press for adequate
funding of tertiary institutions and improved working conditions of
the staff,” Falana added.
According to the report, “Other cases of corruption being
covered up are: falsification of results; extortion of students;
late payment of money due to staff for examination invigilation,
excess workload and other allowances; and collection of bribes
before signing official documents; intimidation and victimisation
by superior officials; promoting preferred staff ahead of others
who are equally or more qualified; and deliberately delaying the
progress of Ph.D candidates because of departmental politics.”
The report also read: “We also found cases of lecturers writing
students’ research projects and extorting fees from them; students
fronting for lecturers to extort from other students; stealing and
misappropriation of university funds; falsification of age;
diversion of funds; and ghost workers syndrome; impersonation
during examinations; forgery; and diverting internally-generated
revenues into personal account.”
“Although the originally proposed sampling locations were Lagos
(University of Lagos) and Abuja (University of Abuja), the
University of Abuja could not be accessed because the institution
was on vacation. Hence, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was
used as a feasible substitute.”
“The judgmental sampling procedure was to select the relevant
universities; simple random sampling procedure was used to select
the relevant departments/units at the University of Lagos while the
snowball sampling procedure was used to select the relevant
departments/units at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Thereafter, the convenience sampling procedure was used to select
the sample subjects from the two universities.”
“The authorities should also publish blacklists (i.e., lists
showing individuals guilty of corrupt practices) by the university
administration; including provisions designed to ensure the proper
conservation and use of resources entrusted to staff in the
performance of their jobs in the university’s condition of service;
and involve the unions and other stakeholders in deciding how funds
are to be used for projects in the university and developing
sanctions for staff that do not report corrupt practices.”
“Most of the findings may only be applicable to federal
universities, in broadly generalised manner. Another constraint
encountered was the respondents’ reluctance to fill the
questionnaires because of their apprehension about consequences or
their busy schedules. However, this limitation was overcome through
persuasion and repeat visitations to them.”
“Because it was not feasible to serially investigate all the
institutions in the education sector in Nigeria all at once because
of the enormous diversity in their geographical locations, this
study focused on federal universities in Nigeria. Hence,
questionnaires, personal interviews and observation techniques were
used to gather data from relevant staff and students at the two
selected federal universities. A sample of 1,500 respondents
comprising of 900 students, 300 academic and 300 non-academic staff
was taken from the two federal universities under study.”
Read more https://nairalaw.com/how-federal-universities-are-covering-up-corruption-sexual-harassment-serap/