ASUU petitions EFCC on alleged N3b fraud

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has petitioned Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an alleged N2 billion fraud against ex-Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Prof. Isiaq Oloyede, and present VC, Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali.

In the petition submitted at the EFCC Ibadan Zonal Office, ASUU described UNILORIN as one of the most corrupt institutions, saying it was using stable academic calendar to silence whistleblowers.

ASUU called on EFCC to thoroughly investigate allegations against the officials.

The petition accused them of pension scam; fraudulent and unremitted deductions; extortion from students; contract inflation and kick-backs, as well as unlawful payments to ex-principal officers of the university.

ASUU’s Ibadan Zonal Chairman Dr. Ade Adejumo urged EFCC to investigate what he described as “monumental fraud perpetrated by the administration of the now Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Oloyede and Ambali.

The petition alleged that Oloyede, in 2011, doubled the pension deducted from workers’ salaries under the pretence that previous deductions were lower.

The petition, dated December 29, reads: “For the avoidance of doubt, the legal minimum prescribed by the Pension Act at the time was 7.5 of emoluments, and the workers were already paying above this. In federal universities N20,124.62 is deducted from each professor as pension contribution monthly. But in UNILORIN, N40,206.42 is deducted monthly for the same “pension contribution”.

“Contrary to law, the extra deductions did not derive from any agreement with the workers; indeed, the forced deductions were protested to no avail. For the avoidance of doubt, the pension law does not empower an employer to forcefully deduct…’’ above the minimum from any employee…”

The union, therefore, appealed to the EFCC to investigate the allegations and rescue the institution from the entrenched fraudulent activities.