By JOHN NWOKOCHA, Abuja

Irked by the continued strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday accused it of complicity in corruption in the education sector, which he said is undermining the Federal Governments’ investments.

The ongoing strike entered its eight month with no end in sight as efforts by stakeholders seemed not yielding results.

He spoke Tuesday at the 4th National Summit organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja, which he noted: “Incidentally, it is also my last as President”.

Buhari said: “Those who go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit.”

He noted that the theme of the summit, which is, ‘Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector”, was apt.

Panelists agreed that the country has been challenged by the incessant strikes in the education sector especially by unions in tertiary education, often indicating gross underfunding.

The about eight months old strike by ASUU started on February 14 with a one-month warning strike.

Other associations such as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions and National Association of Academic Technologists later followed suit, shutting down their activities in universities nationwide.

In his keynote address, former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, expressed concern that Nigeria is regarded as one of the most corrupt nations in the world.

He bemoaned that corruption from both the education sector itself and the larger public sector, as well as neglect, chronic underfunding, and crisis had all plagued Nigeria’s educational system.

In the higher education sector, particularly universities, which, according to the political science professor, statutorily enjoy some relative autonomy, there is growing evidence that corrupt practices anchored in the larger public sector influence and compel such behaviors.

In his opening speech, Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, disclosed that the Commission has uncovered and recovered the sum of N1.264 billion diversion of tax and other statutory revenues as part of routine investigations. He said this is in it is to support government’s effort to improve revenue generation in the country.

The ICPC boss stated that in order to differentiate between outright fraud and administrative errors, the Commission met with some MDAs to discuss recurring surpluses in their payroll in order to determine proactive measures to improve the budget process.

As a result, it discovered soft projects worth more than N7 billion for a catchment population of about a million people under the guise of empowerment and another instance of a successful increase in an agency’s budget.

The event which looked at ‘Corruption and the Education Sector’, was jointly organised by the ICPC, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

According to Owansoye, “As is now widely publicised ICPC has intensified its scrutiny of personnel and capital cost of MDAs leading to proactive restraining of surpluses or duplications in the budget. Just last week the Commission in collaboration with the Budget Office and stakeholders met with some MDAs on the recurring surpluses in their payroll to determine proactive measures to improving the budget process.

“This is towards separating outright fraud from administrative lapses. We also actively review the budget to prevent abuse by senior civil servants and PEPs who sometimes personalise budgetary allocation for direct benefit. In one case PEP successfully increased the budget of an agency in order for the agency to buy a property from him. In another case the PEP inserted soft projects worth over N7b for a catchment population of about One million people in the name of empowerment. Both cases are under investigation.”

Owansoye said that the commission was assiduously working to root out phony appointments and scrutinize candidates for appointment to positions of permanent secretaries, among others.

He noted that investigation results showed that numerous potential nominees are linked to financial misconduct, dishonest behaviour, a breach of code of conduct, and substance misuse.

Owasanoye applauded the commitment of the Head of Service to clean up the stable by effective pre-appointment screening, noting that the ICPC would continue to play its part.

He commended this year’s awardee, Chief Superintendent Amah, who was conferred with the prestigious 2022 public service Integrity, for rejecting a $200,000 bribe from suspected robbers.

He said it was a peculiar award, hence, is from the Nigeria Police, “an institution often derided, maligned and under-appreciated”.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu commended the leadership of JAMB for “achieving what no other agencies had achieved in recent past.”

He noted Nigeria must fight corruption to be liberated, adding that differences can be made in all sectors no matter how bad it is perceived.

“Nigeria has a bad reputation of being a corrupt society. Nobody will change that except us. At a moment you see people condemning corruption and the next moment, they engage in it. We have to sincerely fight it otherwise this nation is doom,” Adamu said.

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