Infractions such as abuse of office, alleged payments without formal approval, extra-budgetary expenditure, and others are some of the highlights in the three reports that swept Professor Oluwatonyi Ogundipe out of office as Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG).
The Governing Council of the institution, after its meeting in Abuja last Wednesday, announced the removal of Ogundipe as the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG.
The decision has since polarized the institution, pitting the Governing Council against the Senate, lecturers and unions, leading to a contemplation of litigation to reverse the alleged non-procedural change.
It was learned that the Governing Council relied on three reports to arrive at the decision to remove Ogundipe from office.
The reports are that of the Council Sub-Committee on Review of Expenditure of the University of Lagos from May 2017 to Date; the report of the Panel Set Up by the Council to Investigate the Circumstances Surrounding The Collapse of Part of The New Library Building under Construction, and the report of another Sub-Committee of the Council set up to Overhaul the Operations of the Income Generating Units in the University of Lagos.
Extracts of the findings of the three reports, which also contained Ogundipe’s responses, brought to the fore, certain financial regulations and processes of the institution that the sacked V-C allegedly breached.
Parts of the extract of the findings of the Council Sub-Committee on Review of Expenditure of the University of Lagos from May 2017 to date alleged that Ogundipe changed the contract sum of Janitorial Services for Faculties and Libraries without Tenders Board & F&GPC ratification.
The contract sum was said to be N51,263,215.22 while N7,802,312.62 and allegedly paid without F&GPC approval.
Another was the allegation of payments without valid contracts and without Tenders Board & F&GPC approval for 2017/18. These include the provision of Waste Management and Cleaning Services which according to the findings, expired on 30th September, 2017.
The contract sum was said to be N79,787,449.10 while N57,372,050.44 and allegedly paid after the expiration of the contract.
Also was the contract for the Facilities Maintenance and Janitorial Services of Students’ Halls of Residence which expired on 31st October, 2017. The contract sum was said to be N75,200,000 but N71,789,428.76 was allegedly paid after its expiration.
The contract for Janitorial Services for Faculties and Library which allegedly expired on 30th April, 2018, with a contract sum of N51,263,215.22. The report showed that N7,802,312.62 was paid after the expiration of the contract.
Also included was the payment for the contract for Janitorial Services for Auditoria, Sport Centre, Centre for Information Technology (CITS) and Medical Centre which expired on 30 November, 2017. The contract sum was said to be N50,047,659 but which Payment of N19,232,931 and N2,964,046, totaling N22,196,978 was allegedly paid after its expiration.
Ogundipe during his tenure was also said to have engaged Shelter Guards Limited and Nigerian Legions without Valid Contracts.
The report claimed that Shelter Guards Limited was paid N11,968,000 while Nigerian Legions allegedly pocketed N105,974,000.
The report also contained over budgetary expenditure of N9,739,977 for 2017 Convocation Ceremonies
The report claimed that N85,000,000 was approved for the event while the Ogundipe-led-administration actually spent N94,739,977.
Another extra-budgetary expenditure was alleged in the purchase of motor vehicles in 2017.
The school was said to have budgeted N125 million for 17 motor vehicles in 2017 while N147,855,750 was actually spent, representing N22, 855,750extra budgetary spending without the Approval of F&GPC.
On Page 3 of the 46 page report was an allegation of contract splitting for the purchase of two Toyota Avensis 2.0 for DVC (Management Services) and DVC(Development Services) in 2018.
The report noted that N52,080,000 was spent to purchase the two vehicles for DVC (MS) & DVC (DS), which it states was above the Tenders Board approval limit of N50,000,000.
The approval for the purchase of the two vehicles was given at the meeting of the Tenders Board of 19th February, 2018.
In addition, Ogundipe was also accused to have spent N90 million to renovate his official quarters and the bursar’s official quarters.
The sum of N49 million was paid to renovate Ogundipe’s official quarters without approval while N41 million was paid for the Bursar’s official quarters too.