Ambrose Alli Universit Fraud: Former Chairman Of Council, Chief Omokhodion ExposedHow Gov Obaseki Endorsed Looting By Former VC, Prof Onimawo, Top Govt Officials Exposed By
EXCERPT Of (Chief Sir) Lawson A. Omokhodion, Former
Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma (Oct 30, 2018 – May 11, 2021).
‘MY STEWARDSHIP AT AAU, EKPOMA” BY CHIEF (SIR) LAWSON A. OMOKHODION, PRO-CHANCELLOR
AND CHAIRMAN OF THE DISSOLVED AAU GOVERNING COUNCIL.
Following the May 11, 2021 dissolution of the AAU Governing Council by the State Government, it is necessary to set the records straight for all stakeholders to know how our Council protected the sacred trust it was given.
A. GENERAL UNIVERSITY MATTERS
1. The Governing Council over which I was Chairman was inaugurated on October 30, 2018.
2. Our Council was guided by Article 7 (section 1) of the University Law that “Council shall be the governing body of the University and shall be charged with the general responsibility for the policy, finance, personnel and property as well as the public relations of the University”. The University establishment Law 1999 as amended was the legal framework for the activities of our Governing Council. All our actions derived from the Law.
3. Council identified three priorities viz: promotion of academic excellence; establishment of due process/keeping impunity in abeyance and infrastructural development.
4. Council established a planning framework and commissioned a Due Diligence exercise to cover the period October 2016 to October 2018. Report of the exercise was presented to Council and the Visitor in May 2019. The report unearthed a myriad of anomalies in the University.
5. Arising from the findings of the Due Diligence exercise, Council embarked on acomprehensive intervention in various aspects of the University. Specifically, Council reformatted the misleading AAU financial statements for 2016 and 2017; Council reconciled the N1.64 billion overstated admin expenses and N2.227 billion understated in salaries and allowances in the accounts; Council established a fixed asset capitalization policy that was non-existent; Council worked down the fake E-Transact debit of N199.7 million in the 2017 account; Council reintegrated the over N1.3 billion pension liabilities previously omitted from the audited accounts; Council approved an annual budgeting process for the University unlike the past practice where the Education Ministry determined AAU’s budget; Council sought to validate the N224.8 million students’ debtors in the 2017 accounts and Council approved the full automation of the semi-manual AAU accounting system. Council agreed to redress the poor staffing quality in Bursary.
6. Only a few of the initiatives outlined above remain outstanding.
7. However, a Council audit/investment committee was set up to review the performance of faculties, directorates and departments every quarter for early signals of distress.
8. In the first budget after the Due Diligence exercise Council realized a revenue surplus of N800million in the 2020 budget of the University. Subsequent developments crippled the efforts.
A.1 GOVERNOR’S MANDATE TO PROBE ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPT PRACTICES AGAINST THE VC.
9. In February 2019, the State Governor forwarded a 14-point petition to Council for investigations into “the corrupt practices of the Vice-Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma: Prof. IgnatiusOnimawo”. A 5-member Council committee investigated the allegations and report was subsequently discussed by Council and sent to the Governor.
10. Council discovered that N350million of AAU funds was transferred from its various bank
accounts/revenue units between October 2016 and December 2018 into the private bank
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accounts of two personal assistants to the VC namely Christopher Omo-Iribhogbe and Eugene
Eraikhuemen; a practice which violated the University’s financial regulations. This practice may have continued till May 11, 2021. The Zenith bank account numbers of the two PAs are known.
The full investigation report is available at AAU.
11. Large sums transferred into the private accounts of the VC’s personal assistants were
subsequently paid to the VC, his wife and children. No wonder our Council found the VC guilty at
the conclusion of the investigations.
A.11 OTHER INITIAL INTERVENTIONS.
12. To avoid a situation where all heads of departments and Deans of faculties were signatories to different bank accounts, Council centralized all departmental and faculty dues collections under the approved University signatories. The funds were to be assessed based on the need of the respective units under the VC’s overall supervision.
13. To avoid leakages of funds, all cash transactions in the University were forbidden from June 1,2019 and POS units were deployed to various revenue centers for ease of process.
14. To control the significant increases in wage bills of prior years the ban on staff recruitment was re-emphasised but we found the VC uncooperative.
15. Council established two scholarship schemes in the University for: 1) the best and brightest students and 2) for the brilliant but indigent students. It was to commence in 2020.
16. The Staff Audit exercise authorised by Council found cases of unknown staff and falsification of
records in the files of both academic and non-teaching staff. Efforts to discipline the culprits
were crippled by certain government officials.
17. The fixed assets classification exercise commissioned by Council was completed and the resulting value of N14.3 billion was entered into the asset register of the University. Assigning asset numbers in the register was the next stage.
18. In respect of the heavy burden of pension liabilities, Council began a discussion of a new pension scheme for staff of age 50 and below. A committee to identify pension experts and fund administrators was set up and discussions were still ongoing as at February 2020.
19. Three of the University owned companies viz: AAU Consult Limited, AAU Bakery and AAU Water plant were all loss making. Council approved that both the Water plant and bakery be leased to private operators to stem the outflow of funds. Their fortunes were reversed and the University nowearns a regular N800,000. monthly from the concessionaires.
20. 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. Council suspected foul play.
21. 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. Council appointed auditors were forced to abandon their search for the truth.
22. New boards of directors were formed to provide a focused policy direction for all AAU owned companies and the major beneficiaries were the AAU Farms Limited and AAU Schools which showeds of healthy growth. Council also planned to set up AAU Bookshop Limited.
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B. STRIVING FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.
1. Council decided that all AAU academic staff striving for the professorship cadre should have
their published papers passed through the anti-plagiarism software. This is important for the
credibility of the academic staff. Many lecturers revolted against the move. But Council insisted.
2. The practice whereby lecturers would commute every day from Benin to Ekpoma was declared unacceptable by Council and the existing policy that all staff should reside within a 20-kilometer radius of the University was to be rigorously enforced. The residency limit was extended to 30-kilometer radius of the University. Some lecturers had the habit of coming to AAU once a week.
3. AAU lecturers were to be rostered for in-service training and short term courses for intellectual exposures to expand their world view. VC was to deploy TETFUND facilities for this exposure.
4. A scheme to ensure that AAU lecturers’ attended their assigned lectures and for students’ to perform an annual grading of lecturers’ effectiveness was being developed.
5. Students were required to resume lectures within a maximum period of two weeks from theofficial date of resumption otherwise they would be declared ineligible for the session.
6. My friends at Aret Adams Foundation approved a N100 million endowment for a professorial chair in Business Studies at AAU. This achievement was the first of its kind in the University.
7. Similarly, a N30 million grant was secured from Gen (rtd). Tony Ukpo for research in any field of agriculture at AAU over a 10-year period at N3 million per year. Tony Ukpo was a recipient of the AAU DBA honorary degree at the 2019 convocation ceremony.
8. Compulsory CBT courses for all classes were approved to ensure that in all class years certain common courses for uniform academic standards of graduating students were taken.
9. A Code of Conduct for all academic staff was also being developed to ensure internal self-policing of staff so that abuses of the past were not repeated.
10. Council established zero tolerance for staff falsification of students’ results, practice of sex for grades and money for results and made it punishable by summary dismissal.
11. All 3 rd class first degree holders were to be removed from all academic responsibilities.
12. Practice of the past where students could graduate with three carry-overs was replaced by Council directive that students will have to pass all mandatory courses prior to graduation.
13. The past culture of waste where the VC and principal staff were never on campus because of frequent travels overseas was reviewed and the VC was approved to travel at University cost
twice a year to Europe/America. But if funded by donors VC could travel.
14. Using the resources provided by TETFUND, Council approved the construction of a University International Policy Centre where critical intellectual topics would be discussed by invited eminent speakers and a Students’ Recreation Centre where the AAU students and teachers would have the opportunity to interact in a conducive on-campus environment between classes.
15. However, staff being promoted to the professorial cadre were required to surmount all disciplinary cases against them before Council could affirm their accession as Professors.
16. All outstanding staff promotions and employment regularisations in the periods 2017 and 2018 were concluded by Council. Only the 2019 promotions due in 2020 were affected by covid-19.
17. Following reports of indecent and sordid activities being encouraged in the Industrial and Production Engineering and Political Science departments, in February 2020 Council approved two separate committees to review the departmental academic and non-academic activities and submit a report for action. The case reported by Engr. (Mrs) Ivie Okoro remains bewildering.
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18. The past practice where AAU academic staff were acting as both contractors and staff in the University was outlawed. All University contracts were to be given to registered 3 rd parties not to staff. Touring advances given to staff were to be properly accounted for and on time.
C. INSISTENCE ON DUE PROCESS.
1. Our Council ensured that all high-value projects went through the Tenders Board. The
Chairman AAU Tenders Board was the Vice-Chancellor. As Chairman of the Tenders’ board
the VC has the intimate details of all TETFUND contracts. It is important that the AAU
Tetfund account held in UBA Abuja with account num – 1022245884 be investigated for
details of AAU project contractors; their owners and funds paid out. The government needs to
pierce the corporate veil to know role played by VC and his cronies in contract execution.
2. Industrial harmony was encouraged and promoted through Council fair and even-handed decisions and the involvement of staff unions in conflict resolution.
3. All cases brought to the attention of Council were investigated by Council committees and
sanctions and rewards were apportioned without fear or favour.
4. The staff disciplinary committees were mandated to expeditiously handle cases brought to their attention to avoid delayed consideration of disciplinary infractions.
5. A review of staff files found several cases of age falsification and staff who shamefully
altered their dates of birth as many as 3, 4, 5 and 6 times. The falsification of staff records is
a punishable offence and these staff were sent to the staff disciplinary committee.
6. Many staff who graduated from their Universities since June 1973 were also found not to have the NYSC discharge or exemption certificates in their files and this constitutes an
illegality in Nigeria. These staff were also sent to the disciplinary committee.
7. The University management was mandated to refrain from highhandedness in the handling
of staff and must follow due process to avoid expensive litigations being suffered by AAU.
8. Council established a systematic process for setting up new departments and faculties based on both financial and environmental justifications unlike in past years. The dept. of Mass communication is undergoing the approval process and a campus radio/TV is underway.
9. A comprehensive review of all University courses was carried out with the aim of making
them marketable and relevant in the market place.
10. Council found that the Entrepreneurship Development Centre was operating outside of
University requirements and yet was shielded by the VC. The Centre was being critically
reviewed by Council prior to Covid-19 crisis. Final audit of this unit is outstanding.
11. 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 ofthe University were recklessly abused. The statements of the Zenith Bank Savings accounts of Christopher Omo-Iribhogbe and Eugene Eraikhuemen 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. The amount could be in excess of N1 billion. From January 2020 to-date Council lost track of these accounts due to Covid-19 pandemic/ASUU strike.
12. 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
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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.
13. 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.
14. Similarly the quantum of tuition fees paid should tally with the students’ number. If
students’ number is understated the quantum of fees would be understated. AAU revenue
comes from government subvention, tuition fees, hostel fees, acceptance fees, post JAMB
fees, fees from primary and secondary schools, earnings from AAU owned companies and
endowments. With an accurate students’ number AAU annual self-generated revenue is
about N6 billion; enough to operate with minimal subvention as found out by our Council.
15. In the years of 2018/2019, 2020/2019 and 2020/2021 the acceptance fees paid by new
should alone was not less than N1.95 billion. Some Govt. 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.
16. The financial resources inherent in AAU are immense and an estimated 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.
17. Cases of reckless employment by management were discouraged but the VC was
impervious. In February 2020, Council was forced to cancel the VC’s advertisement of
vacancies for over 1,200 positions. A systematic approach of need identification, skill sets requirements and then advertisement was approved. Covid-19 did not allow a follow-up.
18. 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.
19. Council transparently auctioned disused vehicles and scrap metals that littered the campus at Ekpoma and all of the accrued funds were approved to rebuild the abandoned 18 LGA bungalows in the University. As at February 2020 two of the bungalows had been
rehabilitated but Council’s follow-up was truncated.
20. Council Chairman and members received sitting allowance for attending meetings.
Transport expenses were settled and lunch was served at meetings. Current Council
entitlements were fixed in 2016 by the Council chaired by Prof. G. I. Akenzua. The Chairman
is entitled to a car, security back-up van, 30-day annual leave, business class ticket, estacode
at the rate enjoyed by federal permanent secretaries, medical coverage, and a one-off
furniture allowance. On June 30, 2021 AAU bought a Land Cruiser for the Chairman; current
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version of the model allocated to Prof Akenzua in 2013. All preceding Pro-Chancellors had
Jeeps given them from Governor’s office. But AAU bought our Chairman’s car under lease.
D. INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. On infrastructure, our Council recorded tremendous progress in providing physical
structures for the University. A number of buildings financed by TETFUND emerged and both Council members and staff were stopped from interfering with contractors or putting
obstacles in the way. TETFUND management praised AAU Governing Council when in
November 2019 five of the projects were commissioned. Council’s stern posture ensured
that these projects were completed within the time and cost allotted to them: 1)
Management Science building; 2) Physical Sciences complex; 3) Faculty of Education
building; 4) Mass Comm. faculty building; 5) International Conference Centre; 6) Students’
Recreation Centre and 7) new lecture theatre.
2. The CBN funded Engineering Theatre was completed following the regular appeals made to the CBN Governor by Council Chairman.
3. The gigantic Administrative Services building which had been under construction since 2007
was completed. The State Governor personally promised to complete the complex by
December 2019 to encourage our Council. It was completed in March 2020.
4. THE BENEVOLENCE OF ALHAJI ALIKO DANGOTE (AFRICA’S RICHEST MAN):
The most momentous of these physical structures are the male and female hostels funded by Aliko Dangote Foundation. The offer of an honorary doctorate degree in Business Admin (DBA) to my distinguished and eminent friend, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, Group Chairman of Ecobank Transnational Inc. gave us the hostels. Ikazoboh is a bossom friend of Alhaji Aliko. Dangote On October 20, 2019, Aliko Dangote accompanied Mr. Ikazoboh to Ekpoma to support him at the convocation ceremony and he announced the donation of both a male and female hostel to AAU in appreciation of the honour AAU did to his friend.
5. After my prior discussions with the management of UBA Plc in Lagos, Council authorized the VC to seek a loan of about N610 million from UBA Plc for the construction of a 508-room students hostel that would accommodate more than 2,000 students. The loan was approved by the bank and the Visitor to the University endorsed the project. However, at the point of disbursementconcerns of Council over the poor financial controls under the VC put the project on hold.
6. Two BOT students’ hostel development initiatives were signed with 3 rd party developers but theseinitiatives have not taken-off due mainly to the interruption of Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Council approved the fencing of the western perimeter of the Ekpoma main campus of the
University (side facing the Benin/Ekpoma Expressway) to facilitate the laying of decorative flower beds along the fence walls and to prevent herdsmen, hoodlums and criminal elements from further breaching the security of the University.
8. Unfortunately, commitments secured by Council Chairman for the construction of the Vice-Chancellor’s lodge by a donor and another hostel by an oil and gas company are now lost.
9- Indeed, Council’s dream of creating on-campus hostel accommodation for 10,000 students
at AAU by October 2022 is now lost.
E. AVOIDABLE AND WORRISOME DEVELOPMENTS.
State government officials worked to obstruct our Governing Council in the following ways:
1. In January 2019, the Visitor sent to Council a 14-item petition of allegations of corrupt practices levelled against the VC. A committee set up by Council proved these allegations to be true.
Council report was sent to the Governor in August 2019. In October 2019 the initial report sent to the Governor was returned for Council deliberations by the Educ. Comm.
2. The Educ. Comm, Jimoh Ijegbai, appointed in August 2019, was unhappy with the allegations
against the VC. He attempted to suspend Council on August 16, 2019 but was overruled by SSG.
3. However, in a letter of March 11, 2020, Educ. Comm. again tried to overturn decisions taken by Council at its 4-day meeting of February 18-21, 2020. He then issued a mischievous query to Council Chairman. The Educ. Comm. and VC were particularly disturbed about the independent external auditor chosen by Council to audit the 2019 AAU accounts.
4. Educ. Comm. was so eager to fault the Council Chairman that he invited the EFCC to investigate the Chairman’s sitting allowance and car purchase. But the car purchase was authorized by the Governor and approved by Council. Car Dealer even gave AAU a discount of N5m for my sake.
5. As I write, the Chairman’s Toyota Land Cruiser has since been returned to AAU after the dissolution of Council. The Chairman’s car has always been a property of the University.
6. The Educ. Comm. stopped the Council meeting of June 30, 2020 because the June 29 meeting found the VC guilty of the corruption allegations. The Comm. illegally prorogued the Council and halted its meetings until after the Governorship election in September.
7. Above developments were reported to the Governor/Visitor who expressed consternation and wondered why the Educ. Comm. was acting outside the University Law.
8. However, it was clear that Council investigations of the VC was the catalyst for the strange behavior of the Educ. Comm. Apparently, the VC had secured the support of top government officials who promised to protect him.
9. In October 2020, Governor set up a Special Visitation Panel to look into the activities of AAU in thepast 10 years. The Governor had wanted to do this in October 2018 but I prevailed on him that a due diligence exercise will be more discrete.
10. After the governorship election, the Governing Council sought to hold its regular meeting but the Permanent Secretary of Education Ministry, Mrs Imasuen, wrote that neither the meeting of Council nor F&GPC should hold while the Visitation panel was in session. This was unusual.
11. Even when Council informed the State Government that its meeting was necessary because the three principal officers of the University were retiring the advice was ignored. The Bursar retired on December 1, 2020; the Registrar retired on April 27, 2021 and the VC retired on May 11,2021. A timetable already drawn for the newspaper advertisement of these positions to request for applications from suitably qualified candidates could not be sustained. Government was indifferent that AAU would be run by officers all in acting capacity.
12. The current impasse in AAU where staff salaries have been unpaid for 5 months and check off dues and sundry deductions are outstanding for 9 months would have been taken care of if the Governing Council was allowed to do its work. The current outstanding bill of N4 billion is not too much for AAU to handle in a matured and collaborative manner. Council would have worked with both management and staff unions to resolve this impasse. Council wanted to meet to proffer a solution. Council gave a summary of the solution package to the Visitor.
13. As a known turn-around expert, my ability to guide our Governing Council in resolving whatever challenges that may be confronting AAU was never in doubt. But the VC and some State government officials had a hidden agenda.
14. At the conclusion of the Special Visitation Panel, the Governing Council then fixed a meeting for March 23, 2021 but the SSG again stopped the meeting on March 18, 2021.
15. On May 11, 2021 the tenure of the VC ended and the Governor dissolved the Council. The VC
was neither ousted nor sacked. Despite his atrocities the VC completed his full term in office.
16. The conclusion is that some Edo govt. officials took side with the VC in the corruption saga and refused to punish him. Instead it dissolved the Governing Council for exposing the VC but paradoxically the mandate to investigate the petition against the VC came from the Governor. In summarycorruption fought back and defeated the AAU Council. The VC bought support from his collaborators in govt. to dissolve the Council so as to bury the investigation report.
17. What is pleasing to me is the fact that my insistence on probity and leading by example
prevented me from ever getting personally involved in contract execution. At AAU despite the fact that over N5 billion was spent on TETFUND and NEEDS ASSESSMENT contracts under my Council Chairmanship I never for once allowed any temptation that would have turned me into a. contractor. The State Government is invited to investigate this statement.
F. APPRECIATION.
I cherished the opportunity given me as a son of Ujemen, an Ekpoma Chief and a proud
Esanman to contribute my experience to molding the young minds at AAU.
To have been given this role to make a difference in a University partly on my grandfather’s farmland is the stufffiction is made of. I wholeheartedly appreciate the Council members for working tirelessly in
Council sessions and in committees and often late into the night to record the foregoing
achievements in such a short period. I am indebted to the staff Unions of ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAATs and the Students’ Union for the confidence they reposed in our Council. I pray the new Intervention Team set up by Govt. will continue to uphold the glory of AAU, Ekpoma.
May the name of the Lord be praised both now and forever. Amen. Thank you.
Chief Sir) Lawson A. Omokhodion
Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma (Oct 30, 2018 – May 11, 2021).