1 month ago
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The House of Representatives Committee on University Education has invited Carol Arinze-Umobi, a professor and acting vice-chancellor Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) Awka, Anambra State, over alleged poor project execution.
Abubakar Fulata, the committee chairperson, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
The statement said the invitation followed the committee’s earlier visit to UNIZIK in Awka, adding that it was not a witch-hunt on the vice-chancellor.
He said the committee would not fold its arms and allow certain things that would halt the expected progress in the nation’s universities to persist.
The committee observed that the data presented in the documents submitted by the vice-chancellor did not align with the reality regarding project execution.
Mr Fulata wondered how the university management would claim to have generated N1.5 billion in the preceding year but said it spent about N3 billion on the same internally generated revenue.
Mr Fulata said spending money without appropriation by the parliament was a gross violation of the constitution.
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He said that the presentation of a “cooked figure” undermines the integrity of the entire university management team.
The committee said the oversight visit became necessary due to the calls and concerns raised by many Nigerians that several MDAs would do better if legislators carried out their roles as expected.
The committee said there would be no justification to approve funds for any government organisation if the earlier approval was haphazardly utilised.
The committee said it observed several discrepancies and infractions in the documents presented, urging the vice-chancellor to appear before it in the National Assembly with relevant documents for further legislative actions.
The committee noted that one of the areas of concern is 100 per cent payment for a project that was less than 40 per cent completion by the school management.
This is against financial regulations, the committee said.
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