Daily Independent Online.
*
Friday, June 11, 2004.
Fraud uncovered in Kwara SPEB
By Dele Moses,
Special
Correspondent,
Ilorin
Reports of the Judicial Commission of
Inquiry that probed the activities of the Kwara State Primary Education Board
(SPEB) between 1999 and 2003 have revealed alleged diversion and misuse of the
board’s funds during the period under review.
The
Commissioner for Information and Home Affairs, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin,
who together with his Finance and Justice counterparts, Alhaji Abdulfaitah
Ahmed and Alhaji Saka Issau briefed journalists on the outcome of the state
executive council meeting on the report, said the report also revealed lack of
proper procedure in the discharge of duties of the board.
According to him, the composition of the
board was in violation of the Act that set it up by the former administration
of Governor Muhammed Lawal.
Adedoyin said the report revealed that
Lawal’s Chief of Staff, Alhaji Suleiman Olowojare, withdrew the sum of
N404.2 million from the board’s Afri Bank account in Ilorin out of N425
million allegedly spent on instructional materials.
He added that the report revealed that
N21.7 million was actually spent on instructional materials as against N425
million withdrawn for that purpose.The report, Adedoyin said also revealed that
the sum of N173 million was allegedly transferred from SPEB account at Trade
Bank to a new account opened by the Ministry of Finance in the same bank.
Another N63 million was allegedly transferred to the same account from the SPEB
account.
The commissioner also alleged that the
former Finance Commissioner, Alhaji Abdul Ganinyu Toye, collected the sum of
N16 million for the screening of primary school teachers while the former
Special Duties Commissioner, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Lawal also collected N947,000
for the same purposes which was never executed.
Adedoyin also said about N52 million
government contributions to SPEB between April and June 2002 could not be
accounted.
“The report also revealed that
throughout the four years period of the administration of Lawal, there was no tender’s
board for the award of the contract while the account of SPEB was arbitrarily
operated,” he said.
Submitting the report of the commission to
the government last week, the chairman, Justice Oluyemisi Ajayi, said, “It
is gratifying to observe that the findings and observations of the commission
are quite revealing in content and inspiring in their quality.
