The Management of the Rev Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi, Benue State has dismissed the allegations of two billion naira fraud in the institution.
There have been widespread insinuations that the university management has uncovered a serious fraud and has suspended some principal officers to pave the way for proper investigation of the alleged scandal.
But denying the allegations, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Joe Tor Iorapuu said no money has been lost.Professor Tor Iorapuu represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) Administration, Professor Mike Odey, speaking before the Forum of Investigative Journalists in the Conference Hall of the Registrar stated that such amount was huge and could have greatly affected the running of the school.
The DVC Academics, Professor Simon T. Ubwa who conducted the session for Management maintained that the institution depended largely on Internally Generated Revenues to the extent that if such money was embezzled , the situation could have greatly affected the smooth running of the university.
He said “if two billion naira got disappeared from the institution, it would have threatened her corporate existence.”
Ubwa explained that, commitment of the university’s management to prudence and diligence has translated to the low expenditure profile of the ivory tower, and demands celebration rather than the spread of falsehood.
According to him, the school management had instituted an adhoc committee over the inability of students to pay school fees in the 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic sessions with the hope of ascertaining what the students owed; not about the N2billion.
Professor Ubwa also denied claims that the institution’s portal crashes for acts of mischief and corruption.
Ubwa said “it is normal for the brief shut down of the working tool for upgrade, especially being one of the most modern devices for effective operations.
He added that for effective functioning of the portal aimed at accommodating the additional students load, occasional shut downs were needed to upgrade towards enhancing performance of the electronic device.
Professor Ubwa insisted that the portal’s upgrade required huge amount of money but the contractor who handled the work charged moderately to save the system from collapse. Ubwa disclosed that since the contractor was indigene of the state and as an alumnus, he offer sacrifices as his contributions to the growth of the institution.
The DVC Academics categorically denied that the ad hoc committee was given responsibility to investigate the management over loss of money.
“Activities of the committee did not concern money, no N2 billion was mentioned as part of the responsibility or mandate of the Committee to Investigate. No money was involved in the first place”, he said .
He nevertheless confirmed that Engr Sylvanus Gasarah has been honoured for his great contributions to the institution and that at the recent convocation ceremony, Gasara made monetary contributions to the university for development purposes solely.
“The donor had awarded scholarships for the best graduating students in physics and mathematics on the basis of his personal background in engineering and wants to promote the profession”, the DVC said.
The DVC said the Director of ICT and the Bursar of the university were not suspended. According to him, the two continuously come to work contrary to the speculations that both were on suspension.
The Registrar, Mr. Barnabas Terfa Hemba with other management staff attended the meeting.
