Professors at the University of Abuja have called for a thorough investigation into the disappearance of over N3 billion in revenue, as highlighted in a 2021 presidential visitation panel report.
The panel, chaired by Bujar Goni Aji, was inaugurated on April 13, 2021, and its findings covered the periods 2011–2015 and 2016–2020.
According to the Cable, the 342-page report, submitted in June 2021 to the then-Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, revealed discrepancies in the university’s audits for the 2019/2020 academic session.
The report also criticized the university’s governing council for failing to address these irregularities.
Recently, Aisha Maikudi was confirmed as the substantive Vice-Chancellor after a contentious selection process involving 10 candidates.
However, her appointment has drawn criticism, with aggrieved professors alleging it is part of a scheme to prevent further scrutiny of the 2021 report’s findings.
Speaking anonymously, they linked her appointment to efforts to “cover-up” the actions of the former governing council, which was chaired by her father, Sani Maikudi.
The 2021 panel report raised concerns about significant discrepancies between revenue figures declared by the bursary and those derived from official enrolment data.
For the 2019/2020 session, the university was estimated to have the capacity to generate N4.87 billion from student fees but declared only N1.65 billion.
To address revenue leakages, the governing council had previously engaged Messrs Edutech Portal Solutions for N18.9 million to deploy a student fees management portal.
Despite this, the discrepancies persisted, prompting the panel to recommend that the governing council investigate the matter further.
Calls for peace on the university campus have been made by concerned stakeholders, but tensions remain high as professors demand accountability and transparency regarding the university’s finances.
