•Aggrieved unions win battle as IAR&T director throws in the towel
By GABRIEL DIKE
The Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan will perhaps go down in history and of course in the Guinness Book of Records as one with five probe panel reports that investigated alleged misappropriation of N177, 571, 609 meant for the payment of staff hazard allowance.
The battle to unravel what happened to the money released for the payment of 17-month hazard allowance to the staff of ED dates back to last January At a prayer session in 2012, the Executive Director of IAR&T, Prof Benjamin Ogunbodede, promised to pay the money that he was only waiting for a conducive environment to start payment and the staff applauded him.
After waiting for four months without the payment, the Non- Academic Staff Union (NASU) leaders in May 2012 met the ED, who shocked them that he does not owe them any money, prompting the union to begin last strike in June and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) joined later in the industrial action.
With documentary evidence, the leaders of NASU in September 2012 confronted Prof Ogunbodede with proof of the report from the Auditor- General is office to show him where he claimed to have paid the staff in two instalments of N81, 065,403 and N96, 506,205 as well as the transfer of N177, 571, 609 from IAR&T account to a non-statutory one at the then??? Intercontinental Bank without the knowledge of other management staff.
The struggle took a new dimension as other unions such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), National Association of Academy Technology (NAAT) and Senior Staff Association of the Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) got involved. Thus, the issue became a collective battle by the five in-house staff unions while Prof Ogunbodede stuck to his guns.
As the ED refused to shift ground on the payment of the allowance, the staff unions took their grievances outside the institute. The ASUU Chairman, chapter Dr. O.T. Ande, told Education Review that following the documentary evidence, the unions met the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Prof Bamitale Omole, who is the Governing Board chairman of the institute and presented documents to support their position that government had released the money to pay staff the hazard allowance.
She said the VC who has the administrative power to appoint, discipline and promote staff, according to the institute's charter, set up a seven-man panel headed by Prof E.A. Odu from the Botany Department of OAU to investigate the alleged fraud while the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), the supervisory agency of IAR&T constituted another four-man committee headed by Director of Admin & Finance, Mr. T.A. Banta to look into the issues raised in the petitions against the ED.
Banta traced the cause of the protracted strike to non-payment of the hazard allowance and his committee found that the N177, 571,609.50 was posted into cashbook as payment of arrears of hazard allowance. The panel later discovered that the amount was transferred to IAR&T staff club account and no evidence of its return to any statutory account of the institute for government business.
The panel recommended that, Prof Ogunbodede be disciplined in accordance with public service rules 030406, the report be submitted to relevant government agencies for further investigation or the findings be brought to his attention and obtain a response which would be documented to assist management take a decision.
While the seven-man panel headed by Prof Odu observed that the N177, 571,609.50 was part of N606, 261,869.80 paid in two tranches of N303,130,934.90 by the Federal Government in 2010 as subvention. The report noted that the amount was prepared and recorded in the cash book of IAR&T as hazard allowance for the staff using the name of two staff, Aliu and Tirimisiyu, contrary to the practice of making payment.
Like the Banta panel, Odus committee also made similar discovery of the money lodged in a bank as hazard allowance, noting "the decision to lodge the money in a separate account was taken by the ED and the Chief Accountant, without informing other members of the management team of the institute and the money was actually paid into a separate account without the knowledge of the management of IAR&T".
In its findings, the panel said the allegation of impropriety relating to the N177, 371,609.50 was established and the refusal of the ED and the chief Accountant to furnish the panel with information on the account and the bank where the money was kept made the transaction deficient in transparency and their explanation on how the money was spent difficult to believe.
It recommended that the OAU VC should set up a disciplinary panel to look into the allegged of impropriety and misappropriation of N177, 371,609.50 said to have been transferred from IAR&T account as hazard allowance and kept in a secret account by Prof Ogunbodede and the Chief Accountant, Mr. Tejumola. The panel also ordered that the two officials and others should proceed on company leave, pending the decision of the disciplinary panel and the funds misappropriated be refunded.
Dr. Ande disclosed that the crisis took another twist when the VC on January 9, 2013 invited the union leaders and informed them that he was expecting the reports from the ministry and the Accountant-Generals office and they immediately told him that they did not face any panel from the two bodies. Stressing that on January 25, Prof Omole again invited the unions and read the reports, saying that based on their findings, he could not remove the ED. She explained that the AG's report dated November 12 and 15, 2012 in which they did not appear before the panel claimed that the staff had been paid the hazard allowance.
Not satisfied with the VCs explanation, the staff unions stormed the ARCN, Abuja office on February 13 to protest the two reports (ones read by the VC) which the unions rejected because they were not invited to state their case. On February 26, another panel was constituted by ARCN and both parties appeared before the committee and they wrote their report and the minister sent government's position to the VC to implement.
The IAR&T ASUU chairman explained that when the VC denied seeing the minister's directive, "we visited the ministry and it was confirmed that a copy of the white paper was delivered to Prof Omole," adding that based on the Abuja visit, some unions wrote the VC to act on the decision.
But when Prof. Omole was contacted, he faulted the allegations, saying that all the three panels set up to investigate the allegations, including the university's investigative panel found the IAR&T Director, Ogunbodede, innocent of the allegations.
According to the VC who spoke on the telephone, the Minister of finance set up an investigative panel, and it did not find Ogunbodede guilty. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Adesina also set up an investigative panel, and they did not find him guilty. "I also set up a panel and the panel did not find him guilty but because of their internal political wrangling, they said I should remove the man. I reminded them that if I remove him, the matter will end up in the court. The court will ask for the reports of the panels.
Following the directive of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, after the reinvestigation of the allegations against Prof Ogunbodede, Education Review learnt that individual unions with a copy of the memo from the minister wrote to the VC, urging him to implement the contents of the letter to avert further deterioration of the situation in IAR&T.
The memo dated April 8, 2013 and signed by G. Itua Aikhoje, addressed to OAU VC, directed him to institute disciplinary actions against Prof Ogunbodede, the Chief Accountant, Mr. Z.K. Tejumola and Mr. Adenose (Accountant 1) for their roles in the alleged misappropriation of government funds to the tune of N178, 685, 109.
Apparently not happy with the way the governing board chairman was handling the minister's directive, the staff unions on Friday, May 10 stormed OAU in a convoy of several cars and buses carrying placards, drumming and singing to attract the Governing Council members who were holding their meeting as well as staff and students who came from their lecture halls and offices to behold the protest by IAR&T workers.
Following the persistent protest, Prof Omole, came out and addressed the aggrieved unions, promising to invite their leaders for a meeting on Monday, May 13. Addressing the protesting unions, Prof Omole assured them that the issue would be laid to rest soon. After his address, the staff unions went round the campus with the placards, drumming and singing to draw the attention of the university community to their plight.
Few days after the meeting, Prof Ogunbodede resigned and on May 17, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed his house and arrested the embattled director and two other top officials of the institute over the alleged misappropriation of N177, 571, 609.
Others picked up by the commission's operatives include Mr. Tejumola and Higher Executive Officer, Mr. Kunle Ojo while the fourth person, Accountant 1, Mr. Clement Adenose, was not at home, but was asked to report to EFCC office.
A source revealed that the operatives of EFCC stormed his house early on Friday and took him away, apparently to Lagos to answer questions on the two probe panel reports that indicted him and three other top management staff of IAR&T.
The EFCC officials were in town on Thursday, May 16, and informed the staff unions of their mission and later went to the Oyo State Police Command at Eleyele to seek for assistance to arrest the IAR&T ED, Prof Ogunbodede and the three other officials indicted in the probe report.
They stormed the Prof Ogunbodede's home at 6.00am arrested him, took him to Lagos and interrogated him before being granted an administrative bail while investigations on the alleged fraud continues.
The Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bisi Okuwobi, told our Correspondent on phone that the EFCC operatives came back on Thursday to inform the command of their mission in the state. But an EFCC source told Education Review that Prof Ogunbodede was granted an administrative bail.
Dr. Ande, called our correspondent at 6.11pm to break the news that Prof Ogunbodede has resigned prompting the striking staff unions to bust into songs and danced round the institute.
She disclosed that Prof Omole has appointed the most senior professor and former deputy director, Prof James Alabi Adediran, as new director of the institute for a three-year term his appointment takes effect from May 28, 20113 to April 2016.
Despite the appointment of a new director, workers are still on strike over the unpaid hazard allowance and five- month salary. Education Review gathered that the unions' leaders have met twice with Prof Adediran and discussed the way forward.
Stakeholders hope that with the appointment of Prof Adediran, government would come in to address the issue of non-payment of staff salary since January 2013 and the outstanding hazard allowance to enable the institute return to its job of teaching and research.
Via: Sun News Online