Ex-Governor misappropriated N5bn UBEC fund — Witness
An Assistant Director of Finance at the Universal Basic Education Commission, Abubakar Hassan, has testified before a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital, that the administration of former governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, allegedly misappropriated about N5.78 billion.
Hassan stated that the funds were intended for the execution of projects in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools across the state between 2013 and 2015.
Ahmed and his then Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, are currently standing trial for the alleged theft and mismanagement of the funds.
The duo, among other things, were accused of conspiring to steal money meant for the payment of teachers’ salaries working with the State Universal Basic Education Board.
They were, however, arraigned in October 2024, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Dele Oyewale, said at the resumed trial on Wednesday that Hassan, who is the Prosecution Witness 1, accused the government of misappropriation.
Hassan said, “The Matching Grant Funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission are meant to provide certain infrastructural facilities for both students of primary and junior secondary schools. Such facilities include the construction of buildings for primary schools, provision of laboratories for students, construction of toilets, provision of water and sanitation, and cultural education.”
Hassan further stated that UBEC’s main objective when it was established in 2004, was to ensure that no Nigerian child is denied basic education.
Stating the procedures for obtaining grants from the commission, the witness said, “UBEC law provides that the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, its Executive Secretary and the Director of Finance, are signatories to Matching Grants Accounts. The Matching Grants Account is opened with any commercial bank or the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
However, he added that the state has to prepare action plans, defend the projects and get approval before it could assess UBEC grants.
Testifying further, the PW1 stated that the SUBEB prepared and submitted an action plan for 2013. It was defended and approval was given to execute certain contracts in compliance with the action plan.
“The commission made lodgment for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Kwara State got a Matching Grant of about N2 billion in 2013, N876 million was released in 2014, and they got N982 million in 2015, totalling about N5 billion.
“The implementation of the 2013 Action Plan had already commenced, and contractors were already being mobilised to work at the site, but surprisingly, during our project monitoring exercise, we discovered that the monies meant for the project (2013) had been diverted by the Kwara SUBEB. We discovered that about N2 billion was diverted,” Hassan narrated.
Following this discovery, the witness said the report of the projects monitoring committee was sent to the Kwara SUBEB, asking them to comply with the recommendations of the committee, but there was no response.
Hence, the commission wrote to the banks to return the 2014 and 2015 funds paid to the state.
He said there were no activities for 2016, 2017 and 2018 due to the failure of the state to comply with its earlier recommendations about the diverted funds.
The trial judge, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar adjourned further hearing on the case till February 17, 2025.
