There are indications that Dr Mohammed Sanni Haruna, the Director-General of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, (NASENI), may soon get into hot water with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
Why? Very high ranking officials of the agency are hurling bricks at him, accusing him of pilfering of NASENI funds, over invoicing, , violation of civil service rules and regulations, maltreatment of staff who are reluctant to get on his gravy train, and are therefore insisting the EFCC takes a look at the books.
NASENI with headquarters in Abuja, has nine financially autonomous outstations, they are
Scientific Equipment Development Institute, Enugu (SEDI-E), Enugu State;
Scientific Equipment Development Institute, Minna (SEDI-M), Niger State;
Hyraulic Equipment Development Institute (HEDI), kano, Kano State;
Electronics Development Institute (ELDI), Awka, Anambra State;
Engineering Materials Development Instute (EMDI), Akure, Ondo State;
National Engineering Design Development Institute (NEDDI), Nnewi,
Anambra State;
Power Equipment and Electrical Machines Development Institute
(PEEMADI), Okene, Kogi State;
Prototype Engineering Development Institute (PEDI), Ilesa, Osun State; and the
Advanced Manufacturing Tehnology Programme (AMT-P), in Jalingo, Taraba State
According to a copy of the petition made available to Pointblanknews.com “It is disheartening
and perturbing to mention that a project vehicle, Toyota Land Cruiser 2014
model was procured in 2014 at the cost of twenty six million, nine
hundred thousand naira (N26,900,000.00) which was awarded to Kaura Motors
Nigeria Limited, Kaduna, Kaduna State. It is imperative to state that the
same model with the same specification is fifteen million naira(15,000,000.00) at the open markets’
The petitioners alleged “It is on record that Dr. Haruna compelled the out-stations Directors or Managing Directors of the institutes to contribute various levies which run into millions of naira for his travel claims on the purported “Presidential Directives” despite the fact that NASENI Headquarters Abuja has her own separate annual allocation as well as the nine (9) outstations which was approved for them by the National Assembly. It is imperative that the EFCC should vet Dr. Haruna’s International Passport to assess his purported visits/trips to China, Indonesia, Belarus, Korea, Turkey, United States, Dubai and a host of other countries which he used to siphon public funds. Similarly, the anti-graft agencies may exploit their inter-agency synergy byliaising with the National Intelligence Agency (N.I.A.) and National Immigration Service (N.I.S.) to procure actionable data from the various embassies and High Commissions from the variousEmbassies and High Commissions to confirm or refute the alleged trips.”
They alleged further that “ It is regrettable to mention that Dr. Haruna removed the sum of five
million naira (N5,000,000.00) from the coffers of the Agency to procure
the fellowship of the NIGERIAN ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING as a Fellow of the
Academy during their induction which was held at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG) Lagos, Lagos State on 11th June 2015. It is unethical and
against the Civil Service rules and regulations to waste millions of
naira which belongs to the public for investiture of the Fellowship
during which ten (10) Traditional Rulers were sponsored from the chest of
NASENI despite the harsh financial situation in the country. It is
important to recall that Dr. Haruna was arrogantly boasting that Hon.
Justice Sidi Bage of the High Court, who is the father of his youngest
wife has linked him with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice
Mahmud Mohammed, in case of any litigation.”
They urged the EFCC to verify the allegations below.Appendix I “ Reply to a querry, Alh. Mohammed Ndache, a former Principal
Accountant with the Scientific Equipment Developemnt Institute, Minna
(SEDI-M), claimed that the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NASENI, Engr.
Dr. Mohammed Sanni Haruna, collected estacode and travel expenses to
Belarus fron SEDI-M. The total amount allegedly collected is five
thousand, nine hundred and fifty US dollars) plus one million, three
hundred and fifteen thousand, four hundred naira (($5,950 + N1,315,400).
The journey for which this expenses were collected was never made. The
import of this is not that the amounts were too much for the trip of the
executive Vice Chairman, but that the journey was never made.
(II) APPENDICES IIA & IIB: Letters to Honourable Minister of Science and
Technology by Mr. ADEUSI Moses Olusegun: Here, Mr Adeusi claimed he is
being victimised with incessant redeployments and denied promotion
interview for refusing to “sign a voucher of N22,000,000 in favour of
Engr Dr I. O. Abdulmalik as an imprest by the Deputy Director of Accounts
Department, Mr John Hemen”.
(III) APPENDIX III NASENI TENDERS BOARD PAPERS OF APPROVED FRIVOLOUS
CONTRACTS TO SEDI MINNA: The NASENI Tenders Board, under the Chairmanship
of the Executive Vice Chairman, approved various contracts for thes ame
SEDI-M to be awarded to various contractors. The contracts were awarded to
the contractors for materials to execute some jobs for some client(s). The
client(s) were never named in the memos requesting for the approvals.
Eleven of those contracts range from four million to over nine million
naira each (N4m-N9m).
It is worthy to note the following concerning the various contracts:
a. Arrival at the total costs were only in lump sums and not itemized
according to the items to be supplied.
b. With some of the purported contractors, the total sums of the
contracts, which were also not listed according to items to be supplied,
were only written on the tender documents of SEDI Minna with ink or pencil
without the contractors’ quotations.
They alleged that “ A careful scrutiny of the contract quotations, for those with
quotations, would reveal duplications on the contract sums for different
lots of items to be supplied. Some examples are the comparison of the
contract sums of:
i Lot 1 quotation of Seamface Global Solutions Ltd with Lot 5 quotation of
another company in which one DAN ODOKO is named as the CEO. Both
quotations are the sum of N8,394,675.00.
ii Lot 2 quotation of Seamface Global Solutions Ltd with Lot 3 quotation
of M&T Mixrotechnology Limited. The quotations read N11,990,487 and
N11,990,467 respectively.
iii Lot 3 quotation of Seamface Global Solutions Ltd with Lot 4 quotation
of Musai Business Ventures. Both quotations read N9,110,000.00.
iv Lot 2 quotation of Haddy Nat & Co. Nigeria Limited with Lot 5 quotation
of M&T Mixrotechnology Limited. Both quotations read N9,212,485.00.
v. Lot 3 quotation of Musai Business Ventures with Lot 5 quotation of
Musai Business Ventures. Both quotations, from the same company but with different items, read NN7,249,875.00.
On those top level staff who allegedly refused to join the boss’ bandwagon the petitioners alleged
It is unfortunate that some Managing Dierctos of the Institutes who tried
to advise Dr. Haruna on the repercussions of his demeanor as well as act
of improprieties under his administration were either suspended/removed
or made redundant/pinned down as floating officers at NASENI Headquaters,
Abuja. Among the victims of Dr. Haruna’s imperious/maltreatments and
maladministration include:
(a) Engr (Dr) A. B. Hassan, SEDI Minna, Niger State with GSM No 08026282400
(b) Engr (Dr) Mike Ndinechi, ELDI Awka, Anambra State, with GSM no
08033314941
(c) Engr (Prof) Chris Nwajagu, SEDI Enugu, Enugu State with GSM No
07034375750
The trio victims can equally be invited for interrogation as well as
obtain their statements to guide the investigation officers.