15/04/2016
YABATECH MISSING MONEY: IBIROGBA AND CO TO ACCOUNT FOR 1.6 BILLION NAIRA.
15 April 2016
Yabatech Missing Money: Ibirogba and Co to account for N1.6 billion Sacked bursar of Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Mr. Olusegun Ibirogba and six others are to account for missing N1.6 billion allegedly stolen from the College coffers between 2008 and 2013. The money, according to a Committee set up by the Management to audit the College Student Account Section of the bursary based on questions raised by Adebayo Arowolo & Co auditing firm found that about N1, 682,806,539 was unaccounted for within the period. Erudite accounting specialist and Chairman of the investigation committee, Mr. Joseph Akeju explained that Ibirogba and his cohorts ?Charles Akhariya, Mrs Onabanjo Olukorode, Azeez Ajewole, Michael Oyenola, Amu Foluke, Egbemi Chinwe and Florence Egbeni ? jointly carted away both the software and hard copies of records of payment and other records from the Student Account Section of the bursary. Although that made the assignment tedious, but because of the commitment of the committee members, we were able to collect data from the registry on student enrolment, bank reconciliation reports, interview with both bursary and registry staff, we were able to get results. Comparing the actual with the expected earnings between 2008 and 2009, the committee found that the variance in 2008 was N108, 393,665. The variance for 2009 was N119,807,030 and the figures continued to increase to N656,376,570 in 2013 he said. Akeju blamed the theft of huge sums of money from the bursary during the period covered by the investigation when Ibirogba and Akharayi were bursar and head of student section respectively on the throwing up of strangers into the bursary unit to boss their seniors and rampage the system, a serious infringement of the system. Ibirogba who was brought in from the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, and became a bursar a few months before the incumbent rector assumed office was allegedly given accelerated promotion, and allowed to bring into the system, six other accountants from his former institution. These were the people he used to circumvent the system and turned the Student Accounts Section to his fiefdom between 2008 and 2013. According to the financial expert, Ibirogba used his hirelings to block the control system and circumvent the audit control mechanism thereby allowing leakage in the revenue accruing to the College. Normal account reconciliation became nonexistent as the Student Accounts Section became a sacred cow where nobody dare ventured contrary to Section 2501 and 2502 of the Financial Regulation of 2009. Akeju described what happened between 2008 and 2013 as a period of locust ravage in the College. There were no records of students payment in any guise, no record of payment for hostel, bank records were concealed as the section operated its own cash book, no record of money collected through the Unified Matriculation Examination and bank records were not detailed. Worse still, Akharayi refused to hand over to his successor in office which is tantamount to annihilation of record and an attempt to cover up wrong doings. Receiving the report, Yabatech Rector, Dr. Margaret Kudirat Ladipo expressed dismay at the level of fraud allegedly perpetuated by the sacked bursar. It is evidently clear now that it is corruption fighting back as we make efforts to clear the ugly past left in the College by fraudsters thrusting themselves up as Whistle blowers, it is so sad. I became suspicious of the sanity of records emanating from the bursary when Ibirogba turned himself into a tin god and circumvented the system to enrich himself and his cohorts. Each time questions were, he will bring up an order that empowered only him to know the nitty gritty of the bursary. Unknown to anyone, he had a game plan up his sleeves. Ladipo said all efforts would be made to retrieve every kobo stolen by the group through lawful means. This is an eye opener that it was corruption that fought the College almost to a standstill these past few years. It is pertinent to mention that Ibirogba who joined the College in 2006 and became a bursar through irregular promotions has a case to answer with the police for using Edla Petrochemical Limited, a company purportedly belonging to Lady (Chief) Edith Ezeala and her husband, Chief Lambert and three other companies for fraudulent oil deals. With the support of a splinter group of the Civil Liberties Organisation, led by a reporter with the Source Magazine, Igho Akherega, who is Ibirogbas hatchet man and his paid media houses, Ibirogba has continued to blackmail the College and the Management over imaginary, monumental fraud until the recent audit report fingered him as the main man.
