UNILORIN VC debunks allegations of corrupt practices

Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin has debunked allegations of corrupt practices levelled against the university administration, saying many people were not aware of the universities procedures.

Ambali stated his position in an interview with Newsverge in Abuja on Tuesday.

The vice-chancellor said that the university followed laid down guidelines in appointments of staff, payment of entitlements to principal officers and reappointment of principal officers.

The don, however, expressed concern that many people in the university community were not familiar with these laid down guidelines and felt cheated for one reason or the other.

“In respect of appointments, all appointments are based on rules and regulations governing the appointment.

“Any request for engagement within the university are sent to the Heads of Department, who comment based on their own rules and regulations within the department; they either approve or disapprove.

“We send a letter of apology to the applicant but if they approve we continue the process of the engagement; first at temporary level before the appointment is ratified along the way.

“Unfortunately, people are not very conversant with the rules and regulations governing all these things,” he said.

The vice-chancellor also explained that for the entitlement of vice-chancellors and former vice-chancellors the management followed what the rules and regulations governing the campus stipulated.

According to him, sitting principal officers who are serving, when their tenure ends and they want to return to the university, they will have to revert to their former status before their appointment for example vice-chancellor.

Ambali added that such a person would also be paid the salary of the new position which off course would not be up to what they earned in their previous position.

He explained that all contracts awarded by the institution followed due processes.

Newsverge reports that some officers of the South-West Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had accused the University of pension fund fraud running into N2.5 billion and called on the anti-graft agency to institute a probe into the matter.

The allegations listed in the petition included pension fraud, unremitted deductions, extortion from students, contract inflation and kick-backs; as well as unlawful payments to ex-principal officers of the university.

However, Mr Kunle Akogun, the institution’s Head of Corporate Affairs, also described the allegation as “largely empty merely rehashed to make it look real.

Akogun described those behind the petition as “enemies of progress,’’ who are aghast at the pace of progress and continual giant strides being daily recorded by the university where transparency, honesty, accountability and due process were the key elements of administration.

According to him, there is nothing new in the allegations contained in the petition.

“The same fellows made the same allegations in August last year while shamefacedly kicking against the nationally acknowledged well-merited appointment of Prof. Oloyede as the Registrar of JAMB.

“And of course, no one took them seriously, as even President Muhammadu Buhari, who is well-known for his zero tolerance for corruption, is not unaware of the due diligence credentials of the successive administrations of the University of Ilorin,” he said.