Lecturers ask FG to probe ‘missing N3bn’ uncovered by 2021 panel at UniAbuja

Professors at the University of Abuja have called for an investigation into over N3 billion in missing revenue uncovered by a 2021 presidential visitation panel to the institution.

In June 2021, a presidential visitation panel to UniAbuja chaired by Bujar Goni Aji and inaugurated on April 13 submitted its probe report covering the 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 windows.

The 342-page report, which was submitted to former minister of education Adamu Adamu, found discrepancies in the audits done during the 2019/2020 session in UniAbuja.

The panel’s report added that the governing council at the institution failed to take measures to correct them.

Aisha Maikudi was recently confirmed as the substantive VC after being shortlisted from among 10 candidates in a contentious selection process.

The dust has yet to settle over Maikudi’s appointment, despite calls for peace on the university campus by concerned stakeholders.

Aggrieved professors, who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, alleged a ploy by complicit individuals to deter any further investigation into the findings of this 2021 report.

They alleged a correlation between Maikudi’s appointment as VC and the purported attempt to “cover up” the activities of the then-governing council which was chaired by the VC’s father Sani Maikudi.

In its report, the 2021 visitation panel recommended that the university council investigate the wide discrepancy between the revenue figures from student fees as declared by the bursary and the ones deduced from official enrolment data.

It said: “The governing council had taken policy steps of boosting the IGR base of the university through upward review of student fees and blocking of leakages in payments.

“To this effect, the council approved the engagement of Messrs Edutech Portal Solutions, at the cost of N18,900,000, for the deployment of the student fees management portal to block leakages in payments.

“The panel, however, noted that based on the official students’ enrolment and the approved student fees as of the 2019/2020 session, the university had the propensity of generating N4,869,033,958 as against N1,654,896,918 declared by the university bursary.”