From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Former bursar of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Mr. Peter Agi, has accused the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Zana Akpagu, of frustrating his life and allegedly terminated his appointment on November 3, 2016, because he uncovered an alleged fraud in the institution.
Agi’s explanation was contained in a four-page December 2, 2016 letter submitted to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, which informed him about alleged unlawful termination of his appointment by the university management.
Agi, in the letter, informed the minister that his travails started when he insisted on investigating and ascertaining the true state of the university revenue collection platforms.
The letter indicated that after thorough and diligent independent investigations, it was discovered that in July 2014, N274, 800 of the university revenue was diverted to a miscellaneous account with number 1013048113, in one of the new generation banks. The same report uncovered another N249, 900, which was paid into another miscellaneous account, with number 1012568328, in the same bank.
It was later confirmed that all the accounts belong to a consultant called Gucci-Chis Nigeria Limited.
“Regrettably, only N294, 700. 00 went into UNICAL Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account, with number 1012211387.
“In August 2014, N10, 555, 000.00 and N11, 561, 000.00 was diverted to same miscellaneous accounts, respectively, while the university’s IGR account got only N6,833,300
“The same scenario repeated itself in September 2014, as the same miscellaneous accounts belonging to Gucci-Chis got N9,986,400 and N11,561,000, respectively, while the school’s IGR account received N5,934,200.”
Agi, however, told the minister in his letter that the outcome of an independent investigation sparked outrage, which resulted in the Governing Council directing that a new and more transparent revenue platform be set up for the university.
“That directive,” he alleged, “did not go down well with some people who had hitherto used the channel to defraud the university.”
He urged the minister, “not to allow the vice chancellor go scot-free with the impunity, as it will not augur well with the anti-corruption and change philosophy of the present government.”
Agi promsied to appear before any disciplinary panel to defend himself.
When contacted, the vice chancellor denied the allegations and them as false and unfounded. He said “the former bursar is a rattled snake fighting for survival.”
He added that “Agi failed to recognise the fact that as bursar, he was, according to the law establishing UNICAL to report to the vice chancellor, for the day-to-day administration and control of the financial affairs of the university.”