The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) on Monday called on the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate alleged financial crimes at the Yaba College of Technology.
According to the Coordinator of AFRICMIL, Chido Onumah, the sum of N1,682,085,539 (One billion, six hundred and eighty-two million, eight hundred and six thousand five hundred and thirty-nine naira) was allegedly stolen by some staff of the College between 2008 and 2014.
The allegations of these financial malpractices were contained in a petition dated May 5, 2019, and sent to the anti-graft agency by Mr. Joseph Akeju, a whistle-blower and former bursar at the institution.
“The petitioner discovered that such a huge sum of money had disappeared when he served as the chairman of a seven-man committee on the review of audit report on students’ accounts set up in 2016 by the College management,” Onumah said in a statement.
”Besides, there were numerous dubious transactions in which the College’s Zenith Bank account No: 1010243958 was used as the conduit, as well as the persistent sale of College certificates by a syndicate in the College registry, according to the petition.”
Onumah also said that the petitioner suffered all kinds of abuses which culminated in his illegal dismissal in March 2018, just a few days to his official retirement from the public service owing to the issue of fraud and other malpractices in the institution being rebuffed.
He urged the ICPC to begin immediate investigation into the whistleblower’s petition as well as punish those found culpable in the alleged large-scale fraud and financial violations at the college.
