Reps Committee summons UNIZIK Vice Chancellor over alleged poor roject execution
The House of Representatives Committee on University Education has summoned Prof Carol Arinze-Umobi, Acting Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, over alleged poor project execution and abuse of financial regulations.
Hon Abubakar Hassan Fulata, Chairman of the House Committee on University Education, made the announcement after his committee’s visit to UNIZIK in Awka.
He said lawmakers are not witch-hunting anyone, but they cannot fold their hands and allow issues that hinder progress in the nation’s universities to persist.
The committee observed that the data presented in the documents submitted did not align with the reality on the ground in terms of project execution.
The legislators wondered how the university management could claim to have internally generated N1.5 billion in a preceding year but reported spending about N3 billion from the same internally generated revenue.
The committee stated that spending money without parliamentary appropriation is a gross violation of the constitution and that presenting fabricated figures undermines the integrity of the entire management team of the university.
Hon. Kalejaiye Paul, one of the committee members, said the oversight visit is crucial due to concerns raised by many Nigerians that several MDAs would perform better if legislators responsible for fund appropriation and oversight carried out their roles as expected.
He added that there would be no justification for approving funds for any government organization if previously approved funds were mismanaged.
After observing several discrepancies and infractions in the documents, the lawmakers ruled that Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Carol Arinze-Umobi must appear before them in the National Assembly with relevant documents for further legislative action.
One of the concerns is the 100% payment for projects that are less than 40% complete by the school management, which the committee views as against financial regulations.
