Rot in UniAbuja: Waiting for Jonathan’s action as culprits walk freely
March 19, 2013 by Adelani AdepegbaPUNCH
Entrance to UNIABUJA
Despite
the damning revelations by the Presidential Visitation Panel to the
University of Abuja, it seems it is still business as usual, writes ADELANI ADEPEGBA
The level of sleaze and decadence
discovered by the Presidential Visitation Panel in the University of
Abuja has shown that the institution needs a thorough cleansing. The
panel, which uncovered poor governance structure, among other abuses,
found that about N110,647,045 has been misappropriated as security
honorarium.
Another N25,501,415.08 was also spent on
public relations by a school that has no decent science laboratory.
Though the committee recommended that some principal officers of the
institution should refund the misappropriated fund, the Federal
Government has yet to implement the recommendation. This, our
correspondent learnt, is because President Goodluck Jonathan has yet to
sign the white paper containing the recommendation. This, some observers
noted, could be a ploy to sweep the matter under the carpet.
Since 2012, the school management has
been at daggers -drawn with students over non-accreditation of faculties
of Engineering, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture. It took
the intervention of the National Universities Commission to resolve the
crisis through the planned distribution of engineering students to four
universities to complete their study, while efforts were being
intensified to secure approval for other faculties. This solution was
announced last Tuesday by the NUC.
The visitation panel said some top
officials of the institution should be reprimanded for contract
splitting and for purchasing N37m plastic chairs. The panel described
the rot and oddities in the institution as a "fairy tale” which the
government must halt. For instance, the school has no Examination
Records Office to handle examination issues, but matters are handled
either by the Academic Office or Academic Planning Office, with neither
being solely responsible.
The Visitation Panel, headed by Dr. Theo
Osanakpo, SAN, discovered that the school has no admission office and
admissions were done at the whims and caprices of the university
officials. A large number of students have no Post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination scores and yet were admitted. Many students
also graduated from the university without completing the requirements.
In what seems to best describe how low the university has sunken, 31
students in the English Department graduated despite having a number of
carry-over courses in the 2003/2004 academic session.
The panel said, "After a careful review
and evaluation of relevant documents on admission and examination,
interaction with management and senior staff in the Registry and
Academic Planning Unit, some heads of departments and deans, it became
clear to the panel that up till now, there is no Admissions Office and a
clearly identifiable desk officer.
"From July 2009, the Senate Committee on
admission, which hitherto handled admission, became extinct. However,
it was also revealed that there are, at present, two admissions
committees, namely Central Admissions Committee and Senate Admissions
Committee, whose members were handpicked by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
James Adelabu.”
The panel also scored low the quality of
the buildings and environment on the mini-campus and described it as a
mockery of a university. Besides lack of infrastructure in the main and
mini-campuses, the panel said, the university’s admission has been
abused without taking cognisance of the capacity of its staff and
facilities.
"A large number of the final admission
lists submitted to the panel did not have JAMB or Post-UTME scores; thus
their authenticity was in doubt. The administration of Post-UTME test
was not consistently done and used for admission purposes. While in some
cases Post-UTME was written, in others, it was either oral or not done
at all. It is clear that the admissions, based on 40 per cent of the
total, were solely handled by the vice-chancellor’s office (which should
not be so) after departmental and faculty recommendations of the first
60 per cent; Only the first 60 per cent of admissions adhered to the
JAMB. Again, admission categories of merit and catchments, the report
noted.
Investigation by the 45-man panel also
indicated that the university often exceeded, by a large percentage, its
carrying capacity in student admission, while the second-tier admission
exercise for the so-called 40 per cent violated JAMB guidelines in
every aspect. It also observed that the selection of staff and
officials’ biological children did not necessarily undergo scrutiny by
the Deputy Registrar (Academic) to ascertain the authenticity of claims,
as should be the case before forwarding the requests to the Committee
of Deans that approved such lists. Consequently the process was grossly
abused.
It was discovered that the bursar sent
in 118 names for admission in 2009/2010, in response to pressure from
outside. This conduct and the poor governance structure in the
institution encouraged admission racketeering and corruption. The panel
was appalled by poor record-keeping and carelessness in the computation
of students’ grade points, which determined final degree classification.
"Record-keeping on examinations is very
poor. Similarly, the computation of students’ Grade Point Average and
Cumulative Grade Point Average was found to be poor, resulting in wrong
determination of final degree classification,” the report noted.
The panel further said, "Thirty-one
students of English Department graduated with varying numbers of
carry-over courses in 2003/2004 session, which the university panel
investigated but did not determine to date. This indicates the highest
degree of carelessness, incompetence and insensitivity. The department
has not been able to defend this. We have every reason to believe that
there could be more of such cases. The senate should be directed to
revisit these cases and take appropriate action.
"A number of students, both regular and
part-time, have graduated without completing their requirements for
graduation. There were also petitions on errors in degree
classifications of graduands already issued with letters signed by the
registrar.”
The panel called for the replacement of
the audit firm which had undertaken the university’s audit between 2004
and 2012, advising that the Auditor-General for the Federation should,
in the interim, appoint external auditors for the university.
"The financial system in the university
needs to be overhauled. There should be a customised accounting manual
as well as an internal audit manual designed by professionals, using the
NUC manual as a guide. It would also strengthen internal control and
correct the anomalies of the present system whereby the operations are
centered on an individual in the person of the vice-chancellor,” it
counselled.
The panel recommended that the
Pro-Chancellor should refund N3, 645, 578. 62 expended on his wife’s
medical issues; while the sum of N25, 501, 415. 08 spent on public
relations should be recovered.
"The amount of N110, 647, 045.00
misappropriated in the name of security honorarium should be recovered
from the past VC, Prof. Nuhu Yakub, and the current VC, the report
stated, adding that the management of the university should be advised
in strong terms that its financial impunity will not be tolerated in a
federal establishment.
The panel members also recommended that
the VC and his management team should be relieved of their
responsibilities, "given the magnitude of the rot; while a professor of
repute, strong character and integrity with sound experience in
university administration should be appointed to build up a new
environment of trust and re-establish order and a sense of form.”
Commenting on the situation, an
academic, Prof. Festus Iyayi, said corruption and administrative
incompetence destroyed the University of Abuja, noting that the
institution’s governance structure did not demonstrate any sense of
responsibility, even in the most elementary areas such as providing the
right ambience for learning. He averred that UNIABUJA needed to build
true governance culture and "take the university back from barbarians,”
noting that the institution could rise from the current ashes to provide
the best model of university education in Nigeria.
The lecturer at the Department of
Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of
Benin, said the institution received about N35bn between 1988 and 2012,
but work done with the fund was grossly substandard, of questionable
quality and value.
He said, "The evidence provided by the
(visitation panel) report indicated that for much of the period,
integrity did not exist in the university; the lack of integrity is
demonstrated in the receipt and application of funds, in appointments
and promotions, in discussions in council; in the information provided
to council by the Vice- Chancellor; in the operation of various academic
programmes without accreditation; in the admission and graduation of
students; in the computation of Grade Point Average; in fact in
virtually all aspects of university life.”
The don said there was need for members
of the institution to resist and take the university back from sadists
exercising control within and over it, adding that the current stand-off
in the school indicates that there are men and women of courage in
UNIABUJA. Iyayi observed that the tragedy identified in the school was
not confined to it alone, noting that the same rot could be found in
other universities in the country, stressing that gossips and mediocrity
were encouraged and rewarded with appointments in many institutions.
But the National President of ASUU, Dr.
Nasir Fage, stated that his union would continue to put pressure on the
government and school authorities to ensure that the right thing was
done, stressing that "ASUU cannot afford to be docile.”
Cleansing the Augean stable would
however require strong political will. Stakeholders who had expected
the government to issue a white paper on the panel’s report and
implement same without any ado, were disappointed over the pussyfooting
by the Presidency.
The Minister of Education, Prof.
Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, said she could not implement the recommendations of
the panel because the visitor to the institution, President Goodluck
Jonathan, had not signed the white paper which has since been presented
to him.
Rufai, who spoke at a meeting with
executive members of the National Association of Nigerian Students,
lamented the rot in the university and the delay by the Federal
Government in ending the oddities there.
"We have a report and it ought to follow
the procedure of developing a white paper, looking at the policy
direction of government, which if the President had approved the white
paper, we would have started the implementation process for the
university. The major issue bothering the federal ministry of education
is the issue of University of Abuja, it is very sad that a university
which is supposed to be a premier university is still grappling with
these challenges,” the minister stated.
It remains to be seen whether the
Federal Government would diligently and faithfully, implement the
recommendations of the visitation panel. How early this is done, would
go a long way in repositioning the institution to discharge its
responsibilities of producing the human resource the nation sorely
needed to compete in the world. |