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UNILAG crisis festers as panel uncovers N3bn tax fraud, contract splitting
The General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd.)-led Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Lagos said two states of the federation, Lagos and Ogun, lost the sum of N2.9bn as a result of gross under deduction of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) from staff salaries in five years by the institution.
The panel stated this in its report to the federal government at the end of its assignment which focused on the administration of UNILAG between 2016 and 2020.
The panel also said the university stinks of corruption even as it detected cases of contract splitting and frivolous contract awards at the institution.
The university is yet to react to the allegations contained in the panel’s report.
The seven-member panel was constituted on 29th March 2021 with the mandate to look into the affairs of UNILAG between 2016 and 2020.
Daily Trust reports that the management was at loggerheads with the immediate past Governing Council led by Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN, which culminated in the removal of Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as Vice-Chancellor in August 2020.
Although the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe has since been reinstated by the federal government, the Agwai panel in its report said “There are cases where the principal officers exceed approval limits by approving related and similar expenses that ordinarily should be a single piece of procurement.
“This could be interpreted as splitting of contracts or services for it to be within the limit of an officer and avoid rules governing big tender, breach of the Procurement and Fiscal Responsibilities Acts.”
The Presidential Visitation Panel which was constituted on 29th March 2021 which reported tax fraud in the book of the University said it was not only Lagos and Ogun that suffered from the alleged sharp practices of the university administration as junior staff were also made to bear the tax brunt while those at the top cadres benefitted.
According to the report of the panel, “Statutory deductions of personal income tax (PAYE) were not accurately computed in the University’s staff payroll. A 5% flat rate was applied. This resulted in a heavy tax burden for the lower-income earners that are required to pay 1% of their gross salary where annual taxable income is less than 300,000. And conversely, benefited the higher and average income earners.
The panel also made reference to the frosty relationship between management under Ogundipe and the immediate past governing council led by Babalakin.
The panel observed that Babalakin who submitted a memorandum and also appeared before it was able to convince members that the removal of Ogundipe by his Council followed due process and that the Vice-Chancellor was given sufficient opportunity to defend allegations of financial misdeeds levelled against him and his management team.
It said the Council was divided along internal members from the university who backed the vice-chancellor and external members appointed by the federal government who were predominantly pro-Babalakin.
On the process for the vice chancellor’s removal which the Federal Ministry of Education faulted as being flawed and upon which Ogundipe was reinstated, the panel agreed with the Council, saying it was in order.
The panel said from the memorandum submitted by Babalakin and the argument he put forward during his appearance before it, due process was observed.
Daily Trust
News
Yahaya Bello govt spending third term in office through Ododo – Clark
Yahaya Bello govt spending third term in office through Ododo – Clark
Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, says the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, administration was nothing to write home about.
This is even as he asked the embattled former governor to surrender himself to the authorities.
Bello has been in the news for days on end over money laundering and financial impropriety.
He was declared wanted after he evaded the economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) who had stormed his Abuja residence to apprehend him.
Speaking on Bello’s time as the governor of the middle belt state, Clark, who is the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, stated that state sponsored violence, corruption, civilian repression and political killings were rife when Bello was in office.
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Clark also pointed out that Bello is still running the show in Kogi state as he is currently spending third term in power through the incumbent governor, Ododo, who he planted in office.
“Yahaya Bello is just being stubborn. He has been living very very rough…having a very rough government, corruption, killing of people in the place during elections and so on,” Clark said during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday.
“There’s time for everything and it has come for him to answer questions. He should go to court. He should go to court to answer the substance of the case, where did he get the money from?
“Is it true or not that the money he paid to the American school belongs to him or belongs to the government of Kogi State?
“The behaviour of the new Governor shows Yahaya Bello is in power for the third time. Ahmed Ododo is just running after him.
“I just want to plead with Ododo to do the needful so that the youth in this country will have something to fall upon.”
Yahaya Bello govt spending third term in office through Ododo – Clark
News
‘Unfounded accusation’ – Obi slams Umahi over instigation of Igbo against Tinubu claim
‘Unfounded accusation’ – Obi slams Umahi over instigation of Igbo against Tinubu claim
Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, says he is not in the business of whipping up ethnic sentiments or amplifying Nigeria’s fault lines to gain socio-political mileage.
Obi said this reaction to comment made by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, at an event on Wednesday on the Lagos-Calabar road project.
Obi has been vocal in his criticism of the road project, calling it a misplaced priority as it is not what Nigeria needs at a time of lean resources and plethora of challenges begging for drastic solution.
Umahi while speaking at the event said Obi’s position on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project amounted to pitting Nigerians of Eastern extraction, who are majorly Igbos, against the government of President Bola Tinubu.
He also accused Obi of demolishing property without compensating those affected when he was Anambra governor, Obi was inciting South Easterners against the government
“When His Excellency Peter Obi was the governor. He made a statement saying, “Any infrastructure that stands in the way of the road must go. And there would be no compensation paid.” That’s what he said,” Umahi said.
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“And I think he’s inciting some of the South-East people that are not well informed. He is inciting them. And gets them into trouble,” he added
Reacting to Umahi’s allegation of divisiveness and sedition in a statement on Wednesday, Obi opined that he is a preacher of peace and advocate of unity who always wants what is best for the country.
Obi, who described criticisms that he is inciting Igbo against Tinubu’s government as baseless, stated that he won’t wallow in the murky water of divisive ethnic politics like many of his contemporaries and opponents do.
He stated, “My focus is on fostering constructive dialogue and inclusivity, rather than engaging in divisive politics, Claims of incitement are baseless distractions. I have always advocated unity and advancement, refusing to partake in reactionary divisive politics.
“I refuse to be reduced to the level of those who wallow in ethnic politics. Worse still, I have never and can never descend so low as to base my political aspirations on any sectional or ethnic interest.”
The former Anambra governor also said there were no comparisons between the demolition he did when he was governor and what the Tinubu-led government was currently doing.
‘Unfounded accusation’ – Obi slams Umahi over instigation of Igbo against Tinubu claim
News
NDIC jacks up deposit insurance cover from N500,000 to N5m
NDIC jacks up deposit insurance cover from N500,000 to N5m
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has announced a significant increase in the maximum deposit insurance coverage levels for Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions, effective immediately.
During a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, NDIC Managing Director Bello Hassan disclosed, “For Deposit Money Banks, the increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N5,000,000, would provide full coverage of 98.98% of the total depositors compared with the current cover of 89.20%. In terms of the value of deposit covered, the revised coverage would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 25.37% compared with the current cover of 6.31% of the total value of deposits.”
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Hassan further explained, “The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage for primary mortgage banks from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.99% of the total number of depositors and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 43.10% of the total value deposits from the current cover of 40.60%.”
Additionally, Hassan noted, “The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage for subscribers of Mobile Money Operators from N500,000 to N5,000,000 per subscriber.”
NDIC jacks up deposit insurance cover from N500,000 to N5m
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