26/08/2023
APPEAL TO URGENTLY RESCUE KATSINA STATE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT FROM BAD LEADERS/AGENTS OF DESTRUCTION
The ‘Katsina Watch’ is a Civil Society Organization that raises public awareness on the social ills of corruption and infringements on people’s rights, it also provides support and assistance to the weak and vulnerable members of the society aimed at protecting and promoting their rights under the legal system. For the purpose of protecting the image and integrity of this administration that has zero tolerance of corruption. The Katsina Watch deem it necessary to write and bring to the attention of this government whose aim is to ensure due process and rule of law is followed in all its official engagements. In our effort to complement the Katsina State Government in its flight to fight corruption, block leakages and fish out bad official amongst its employees, the ‘Katsina Watch’ wish to draw the attention of the State Government on alleged unprofessional conduct and abuse of office by the Rector of Katsina State Institute of Technology and Management with substantive and verifiable evidences as follows:
DIVERSION/CONVERSION OF THE INSTITUTE IGR (INTERNALLY GENERATED REVENUE) ACCOUNT INTO PRIVATE AND PERSONAL BUSINESS AFFAIRS
It was discovered that the Rector is corruptly enriching himself through the Consultancy Company of the Institute which he regards as his private company. The company is saddled with the mandate of generating revenue for the Institute through provision of technical services. To our surprise when the present government directed for the suspension of all banking transactions of its MDA’s and also to submit list and balances of all their existing accounts. In complete disregard to this directive the Rector refused to submit the Consultancy company account which was opened and operated with JAIZ bank Plc with account number 0004021337. The Rector deliberately refused to forward the account because of his shady deals, unauthorized withdrawals and unnecessary spending. The ‘Katsina Watch’ discovered diversion of funds received from services rendered to Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), Katsina State Government, Zamfara State Government and Katsina State House of Assembly and several other contracts payments which have been diverted for personal use. In connivance with the Bursar, the Rector deliberately and fraudulently refused to provide true statements of the Institute Accounts when he was asked to do so by the Office of the Deputy Governor. The account of the Consultancy Services unit in which he carries out fraudulent activities was not listed in the reply letter. He also refused to comply with the State Government circular that prohibits tertiary institutions from carrying out expenditure from their revenue accounts. Due to paucity of funds the state government could only release monthly overhead for two months in the 2023 Financial year. Any reasonable leader would use the meager resources prudently but not Dr Albaba.He transferred money from IGR account and paid gratuity to two principal officers who have left the services of the institute in defiance of the Deputy Governor’s directive not to utilize the IGR account without clearance, this he did to justify his cornering of the institute’s guest house being part of his gratuity. It is worrisome to note that a substantial part of the government monthly overhead allocation to the Institute is being spent on his unsubstantiated travels and maintenance of his residences, leaving behind the Institute without common stationeries and other working tools. Students are left with no medication in the Institute clinic despite the N2,500 being paid by each of them for their health care services. The Accounts of the Consultancy unit have never been audited as required by the extant rules. A close scrutiny of account statement of Revenue Account, Expenditure Account and Consultancy account will prove the above allegation.
ILLEGAL ALLOCATION AND DELIBERATE SALE OF THE INSTITUTE GUEST HOUSE AT SARDAUNA HOUSING ESTATE
It was discovered that sometime in 2015, five (5) houses located at Sardauna Housing Estate were allocated to the Institute by Katsina State Housing Authority for distribution amongst staff of the Institute. The value of the houses are to be repaid through monthly deductions from staff salaries. It was found out from our source at Katsina Housing Authority that the houses are to be allocated to the eligible confirmed staff. However, one (1) unit was reserved as the ‘Institute guest house’ to accommodate official visitors and to generate income, which the Institute fully paid for. On assumption of duty, the Rector occupied the house as his official residence after it was renovated to his taste. Upon expiration of his first tenure, in conjunction with Works and Maintenance unit of the Institute he fraudulently sold to himself the house at its purchasing price with total disregard to the huge amount spent on the house which was undervalued and subsequently sold at its original cost of Five Million Four Hundred and Sixty-Two Thousand Sixty-Three Naira Thirty-One Kobo on (N5,462,063.31) without considering the renovation i.e. fencing with a gate house, landscaping, power generator, water reservoir overhead tank and pump, external and internal works such as painting, POP, furniture and fittings, kitchen utensils, air conditioners etc. The current market value of the house is about Twenty-Five Million Naira (25,000,000) but it was sold to the Rector for only about 5.4million! The irony is that this house was reserved in the best interest of the Institute but the Rector put his own personal interest above public interest in this selfish and criminal act of gross misconduct. From our findings it was revealed that the so called allocation of the house has not received the approval of the Institute Governing Council.
BIAS IN TREATMENT OF STAFF AND INCONSISTENCY IN APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE RULES
According to Public Service Rule any government official who is on trial in a court of law for a criminal offence should be interdicted and placed on half salary until proven not guilty of the offence as provided in section 030404 of the Public Service Rules. For some time now, the information trending in the public forums, print and social media particularly the official website of the EFCC (efcc.gov.ng) and the Corruption Cases Database (Corruptioncases.ng) was about the Institute Bursar and the former Deputy Accountant General of Katsina State being arrested and arraigned before the Katsina State High Court by EFCC and charged with the stealing of Public funds to the tune of 289million and another case at the Federal High court for diverting 261million all for personal use! The Bursar has been released on bail but the Rector refused to interdict him knowing fully well it is a violation of Public Service Rule which in itself considered to be gross misconduct. Even the EFCC has captured the case in its official website which is where they put out information about wanted people, arrests, trials and convictions. It should be noted that the Institute also has an official website where vital information is released such as the recent advert for the positions of Registrar and Librarian. So why the double standard? The reason for this cover up by the Rector is not far-fetched. He had hitherto operated as a One-Man-Show being a Godson of the Mighty Dahiru Mangal. Our findings have shown that the Rector and the Bursar are partners in carrying out financial mismanagement and are currently devising ways of cornering forthcoming TETFUND interventions. Could this be the reason why he desperately wants to extend his tenure? We are fully aware that the State Government had recently queried the Rector for flouting its directives which prohibits MDAs from carrying out banking transactions without clearance. This is a clear case of insubordination which is termed as gross misconduct under Public Service Rules 030301(O).From our findings the Rector was adequately briefed on interdicting the Bursar but he declined citing that the institute was not aware of the situation and therefore directed that status quo be maintained. Clearly, the Rector is covering his new partner in crime.The Rector also deliberately frustrated the domestication of the Five (5) year single tenure policy for Principal Officers of the Institute and 65 years retirement age for Polytechnics staff in line with the Federal Polytechnic Amendment Act of 2019. Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic and similar tertiary institutions in Katsina State had since adopted the policy but the Rector exploited the influence of his brother, a member representing Katsina Local Government at the Katsina State House of Assembly to ensure that the amendment for the Institute did not scale through! The Five (5) year single tenure policy applicable to polytechnics provides that if a serving Principal officer whose appointment was meant to be four (4) year and is on his first term, the officer should be granted one (1) year extension to complete the five (5) year tenure, and if an officer is serving his second term of four (4) year tenure when the policy came into effect, then he should be allowed to complete his tenure of four (4) year without one (1) year extension. This policy should also be applicable to the Rector, but now that the Rector’s second tenure of four (4) year is about to end he started making moves on amending the law to allow for five (5) year single tenure so that his tenure will be extended by one (1) year even though the policy does not qualify his tenure extension.The appointment of substantive Director Academics (Deputy Rector) was also in violation of the Institute scheme of service governing the appointment of Principal Officers. The Officer was on Contediss 11 while the scheme of service specifically outlined that the eligibility of any person qualified to occupy the position of Director Academics should be on the Rank of Chief Lecturer and must have obtained cognate working experience. In the absence of Chief lecturer, the appointment should be as an Overseer since he is not qualified to be appointed on ‘Acting Capacity’ by virtue of his rank.The Rector is currently taking advantage of the current merger and scrapping of some MDAs to surreptitiously push through his agenda to fill the vacant positions of the Registrar and Librarian. Knowing fully well the tenure of the Governing Council ends in about a month, therefore the process of appointing the two officers in line with NBTE criteria which states that advertisement should be put in any two National Daily Newspapers and at least six weeks should be given from the time of advertisement to the closing date of receipt of application is violated. The Rector is trying to give undue advantage to his preferred candidate. He also deceived the Council by presenting to them, the 2023 proposed NBTE guidelines which has not yet been approved by the Federal government. Currently the approved NBTE guidelines is that of 2019 and has specifically provided that only applicants with 15 years’ cognate working experience from polytechnics or similar TVET institutions are eligible to apply for the position of Registrar and Librarian. The Rector has violated the approval limits set by the Governing Council of the Institute, when in January this year, he singlehandedly and in splitting manner, spent the sum of N49million provided by the State Government for NBTE Resource visitation in respect of additional NID and new ND programmes which was carried out in January, 2023 without the endorsement and consideration of the Management and Governing Council. The Laboratory and other equipment procured during the exercise in January this year were alleged to have been “used and repackaged” because most of them are no longer functioning. Total disrespect for Constituted Authorities through bypassing the supervising ministry in communicating with the State Government for his corrupt and undue advantage.eg the recent letter to the Chief of Staff to His Excellency the Governor of Katsina State informing him of the vacant positions of Principal Officers.Due to his financial recklessness and total disregard to the dwindling resources of the Institute, the Rector has on different occasions, caused the Institute a huge sum of money for the procurement of five (5) number 10KVA power generators for personal use in his private residences within five years.In connivance with one of the GSM service providers which has rented a space within the campus, the Rector directed the works and maintenance unit of the Institute to link their mast with the Institute power generator for corrupt financial gains.Because of his selfishness and lack of commitment to the progress of the Institute, almost half of the quantity of diesel being purchased monthly at a staggering sum of close to N1million is being consumed in his two family residences which are provided with electricity 24/7. Currently, the Institute is indebted to the diesel supplier (DB Mangal Petroleum Nig ltd) amountingto millions of Naira. A substantial number of the outsourced security guards contracted for the Institute by the State Government are deployed to his two family residences and one personal guest house leading to the gross inadequacy of the personnel to effectively cover the nooks and corners of the Institute campus and this has caused many losses to the Institute for lack of effective security coverage. Part of losses are those theft cases involving his brother were investigative committee’s report indicates his involvement but the rector swept the reports under the carpet instead he blames the Security company for negligence.The ‘Katsina Watch’ findings also revealed that the Rector, the Bursar and the Director Academics (Deputy Rector) despite spending years in office, their appointments, were in total contradiction of the extant laws as they still lack the requisite minimum cognate working experience as required by the Institute Law. On this note, and in line with the public service reform agenda of the present administration, the ’Katsina Watch’ wishes to advise for the review of their appointments as recently done for permanent secretaries in the State, while further appointment of Principals officers of the Institute should be in compliance with the laws that established the Institute.. Finally, the ‘Katsina Watch’ have come across so many disturbing revelations on the Institutional decay that unless the Governor urgently comes to the rescue of the Institute things will go out of hand and out of control.Thank you.
