As the two-day meeting called by the Governing Council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, begins today, uneasy calm appears to be the situation over the fate of some serving and ex-officials of the university indicted of misconduct in a report by a sub-committee.

Alleged to have been indicted by the report of the council’s sub-committee on the review of the institution’s expenditure are the four key principal officers of the university, contractors, among others.

Apparently oblivious of what awaits the management of the first generation university, students and visitors to the Akoka campus of the institution were, on Sunday, seen moving in and out of the campus as the Senate building was unusually calm as few officials on duty were seen discussing not sure of what might befall officials indicted and recommended for sanctions by the report.

The report had sparked off controversy between the university chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

SSANU had challenged ASUU for its attacks on the registrar, Oladejo Azeez, who acted on the instruction of the governing council chairman, Dr. Wale Babalakin, to issue queries to indicted officials and the vice-chancellor.

The nine-member sub-committee of the council led by a lecturer of Chemistry at Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Saminu Dagari, which audited the university’s expenditure between May 2017 and September 2018, said the institution’s “current regime of approval is open to serious abuses.”

“There was consistent, brazen, manifest and gross mismanagement of university finances by past and current management,” the report noted in part.

The report added that the current regime of approval has been characterised by contract award without recourse to due process, payment without valid contracts and approvals, contract overpayment, contract splitting by vice-chancellors and tenders board, over-budgetary spending, frequent official travels, and expenditure without due approval by the governing council.

It also accused the university’s internal audit units of gross lapses, dismal failure, and abuse of the institution’s internal control mechanisms.

In the case of frequent travels, the report accused the university management of spending multimillion naira on travels, sometimes without approvals.

Other members of the committee that produced the report are Yomi Kasali, Oladejo Azeez, Dora Osoata, Adepeju Adefowope, Adebayo Olaleye, Adeoluwa Folami, Daniel Asigwuike, and Gbenga Adefarakan.

The report, among other far-reaching measures to sanitise and guide against observable infractions against the indicted management staff of the university, also urged the council to take appropriate sanctions against all those indicted of financial mismanagement. (INDEPENDENT)

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