The Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko Delta State has refuted
media reports that the immediate past Vice Chancellor Professor Ongoebi
Etebu was sack because of alleged diversion of funds and embezzlement .
The University also made clarification that the Minister of State
Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva who was chairman of the
governing council was relieved of the position, because of his
elevation as Minister and can not function in the position any longer.
The Registrar of the institution Dr. Alfred Mulade made the
clarification in a letter to an online media which was made available to
Journalists in Yenagoa the Bayelsa state capital.
On the alleged diversion of funds by Professor Etebu , he emphasised
that ” the Governing Council in its wisdom approved the payment of
salary arrears to the four principal officers
(Prof.(Mrs).O.M.O.Etebu-Vice-C
NathanielEseoghene Lucky- Registrar; Mr. Hassan Bakari and Dr. Baba S.
Aduku- Librarian). The over 100 pages of Nigeria Maritime University
Bank statement you claim to have in his possession contain some of these
transactions hence mention is made herein so that you would not deceive
the public by your further false publications.”
Dr. Mulade further made clarification that ” The dissolution of the
Governing Council of the University does not have anything to-do with
the alleged fraud as painted by you. His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva
who was the Chairman Governing Council has been made Minister and there
was no way he could function in these two capacities; hence the Board
was dissolved to be re-constituted.
“It is a well known fact that the tenure of the Vice Chancellor is
time based and therefore her tenure elapsed on the May 25, 2020. So
this has nothing to do with alleged fraud as posited maliciously by you
.”
” We hereby state categorically that, the Nigeria Maritime University,
Okerenkoko does not have any record of missing N3.4 Billion Naira and
N100 Million Naira. The trio of His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva,
Engr. Prof. (Mrs.) Maureen OrubideEtebu and Mr. Chris Maiyaiki or any
other person, for that matter could not have been linked to any alleged
fraud of this nature that did not exist, in the first place. This is a
total falsehood and blatant lies told by you.”
He warned that “the University therefore distances itself from this fake
news and advises you, to retract this fake news and retrace your steps.
The University has concluded plans to press legal charges against you,
should you fail to detract and apologize for the libelous and malicious
publication. To be forewarned is to be forearmed”.
The letter read in part: “The attention of the Management of
Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, DeltaState, has been
drawn to the spurious publication by you alleging theft by
the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the sum of Three Billion and
Four Hundred Million Naira(N3.4b) take-off fund and another sum of One
Hundred Million Naira (N100m) Grantdonated by the Delta State
Government which was allegedly transferred into the ViceChancellor’s
personal UBA Account.
2. We wish to state from the outset that, the allegation contained in
your said publication isfalse, misleading, embarrassing and vexatious.
It is calculated at defaming the character ofthe Vice Chancellor and the
reputation of the institution. The mention of the name of HisExcellency,
Chief Timipre Sylva, Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council of the Unirsity
andthat of Mr. Chris Maiyaki, a Director of the National Universities
Commission (NUC) aswell as the Office of the
Accountant-General of the Federation in the
publicationveamounts to criminal false publication.
3. To put the records straight, and for the benefit of the general
public, Management state herewith, that Nigeria Maritime University is a
public institution guided by extant financial regulations and standards,
and whose records are accessible to deserving members of the public and
subject to scrutiny to the extent allowed by law. Any serious
minded and dispassionate person who wishes to know how the funding of
the University is done would have no difficulty in arriving at the true
state of financial affairs of the University.
4. We wish to point out the fact that at the time the Delta State
Government donated the sum of N100m to support the take-off of this
University, the University did not have a TSA Account, and had to, with
the authority of the Delta State Government duly signed by the Secretary
to Government (SSG) (see letter from SSG and approval to deposit the
cheque in the UBA account as endorsed by accountant in Asaba Government
House), lodged the Funds into the Take-Off Committee Account earlier
created by NIMASA (see NIMASA
documents on the UBA account) . Due to the fact that it would have been
difficult to operate a Lagos based account, both the Vice
Chancellor and the Bursar applied to NIMASA for the domiciliation
of the said account in the Niger Delta in 2015, for purpose of proximity
and ease of transactions, and it was in this UBA account that the N100m
grant from Delta State Government was deposited.
5. We wish to note for emphasis that, in the Memorandum of Action at the
end of the conciliation meeting between representatives of Federal
Government / Academic Staff Union of Universities held on
September 18, 2017, at the conference room of the
Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Abuja, it was agreed
concerning TSA exemptions that “In recognition of the peculiarities of
some of the sources of revenue for Universities and conditions often
attached to deploying such revenues that the contributing agency could
dictate the deployment process which was so in this case by Delta State
Government. The principal officers held a meeting in Asaba to decide on
the lodgement of the said cheque and took a resolution to
deposit this cheque in the UBA account considering that in
November 2017, this account was the only feasible avenue available for
operation in order to quickly advertise in the National daily newspapers
for academic staff vacancies. The funds in that account were later
remitted to TSA Account (see TSA bank statement) when it was eventually
formalized in CBN, Asaba, by February 2018 which was three months after
the release of the funds the account balance was Ninety one
million,three hundred and ninety six thousand, three hundred and fifty
seven naira, seventeen kobo(N91,396,357.17) and this amount was lodged
in the university TSA account (see UBAbank statement of committee for
take-off account).
6. It is an absurdity of the highest order for anyone to ever
contemplate that a humongous sum of N3.4 Billion could just be frittered
away by the Vice-Chancellor and/or shared with some other individuals.
The public should be reminded that, public institutions and indeed
Universities run on e-payment transactions platforms. The
Vice-Chancellor only signs hardcopies of approvals and releases are made
through the office of the Bursar. The formerBursar, Mr. Hassan U.
Bakari, within the period under review, was the
initiator ofpayments, reviewed by Dr. Baba S. Aduku University
Librarian, and Mr. Anho NathanielEseoghene Lucky, the then Registrar was
the final approver, on the TSA platform (seeattached FGN e-Collection
scheme document), until the Bursary was fully constituted andnow handles
all of these activities.
7. The fund releases to the University by Federal Government
are always through e-transfer and accessed only in Remita which was
operated at the time, by the three principal officers mentioned in
paragraph 6 above (because the university had then not employed bursary
staff) and therefore the Vice Chancellor would not have had the avenue
to cartaway that kind of money. It is pertinent to state herewith that
both the then Registrar and the Bursar were never on good working
relationship with the VC until their removal fromOffice by the Governing
Council, and therefore would not have availed her the opportunityto
financially milk the system.
8. From May in 2015 when the university was put on hold and eventually
reopened in 2017the Vice Chancellor plugged her personal funds,
technical knowhow and energy towards the commencement of academic
activities (personnel requirement, laboratories and Bills of Engineering
Measurements (BEME) for lab equipment, travels, typing,
photocopying,printing logistics, etc.) in the university
without receiving salary or allowances. And therefore, the
bank statement also reflects such releases.