How Fayemi’s APC govt. looted N852m Ekiti SUBEB counterpart fund
Yesterday at the National Assembly, Deputy Executive Secretary of the
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Yakubu Gambo told the
Senate Committee on Finance’s Budget Defence that the former governor
of Ekiti State and Minister of Solid Minerals Dr. Kayode Fayemi used
the N852 million counterpart funds dedicated for education by the
federal government through the UBEC for other purposes.
A sum of N852, 936,713.92 was paid into the Ekiti State Universal
Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Access Bank account on January 14, 2014
as counterpart fund for 2012 UBEC projects.
On October 8, 2014, eight days to the end of Fayemi’s tenure, the same
amount of N852, 936,713.92 was transferred from the account of SUBEB,
leaving a sum of N9,139,691.40 as credit balance in the account.
Petitions were written to both the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences Commission (ICPC) on the alleged fraud since 2014.
Reacting to the allegation made by the UBEC Deputy Executive
Secretary, Fayemi’s Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Kolawole, while
admitting that the counterpart fund was “borrowed” and used for
capital project not related to education, simply asked; “Is there any
law that states that we cannot borrow counterpart funds to support
states capital development operations?”
Dapo Kolawole did not however remember to say that using fund meant
for projects in SUBEB for projects in other government agencies was
virement, a criminal offence punishable with two years imprisonment.
He did not also mention that the fraudulent withdrawal of the N852,
936,713.92 SUBEB Counterpart Fund paid to enable the Board access the
2012 fund from UBEC was the reason Ekiti State Government was
blacklisted by UBEC.
Informed sources have however confirmed that the N852, 936,713.92 was
taken from SUBEB account and later used to pay for some phoney
contractors, who in turn made huge returns to some top functionaries
of the government, including Fayemi, his Chief of Staff, Adaramodu,
Dapo Kolawole, Kayode Jegede among others.
Dr. Yakubu Gambo’s revelation was triggered by question put to the
Deputy Executive
Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Yakubu Gambo by a member of the Committee,
Senator Adekola Solomon Olamilekan (APC) representing Lagos West Senatorial
District.
“It is observed by this Committee that some State Governors divert
money meant for executing school infrastructure which was provided by
the federal government through UBEC How true is it?” Olamilekan asked.
Gambo confirmed that some governors across the State do tamper with
UBE funds by diverting it to other projects not captured within
educational framework.
He cited Ekiti State as a case study, explaining that during the
administration of Dr. Fayemi Kayode, Ekiti State instead of releasing
its own counterpart funds so as to draw down the funds, borrowed from
its UBEC’s account without the consent of the agency.
“You see Mr. Chairman, the idea of Ekiti State government going to
the Bank to borrow from UBE funds was not with the consent of our
agency and the Bank has withheld the money to avoid problems with the
new governor and as I speak with you, they have not accessed their
funds yet”, Gambo maintained.