Governor Wike, Mrs Jonathan Fingered
In N180 Billion UBEC Fraud
By Ayo Balogun, African Examiner – Rivers
state governor, Mr Nyesom Wike and
immediate past first lady Mrs. Patience
Jonathan have been accused of involving in a
multi-billion frauds at the Universal Basic
Education Commission (UBEC).
The said fraudulent activities occurred in
Universal Basic Education Commission
(UBEC) under the supervision of Mr Wike,
when he was minister of state for education.
A Lagos based whistleblower operating under
the aegis of Nigeria Against Corruption Group
(NACG) alleged in a statement issued and
signed by its National Coordinator Mr Tayo
Olusola that Mr Wike siphoned billions of
naira under the UBE program when he was in
charge of the Education ministry.
The statement reads: “Investigation
conducted by us revealed that the Rivers
governor and the former first lady, allegedly
plundered over N180 billion from the UBEC
purse using fronts in the commissions office.
“Sources confirmed that UBEC programs and
contracts during the tenure of Chief Wike,
were used as a facade to loot billions of naira
for little or no work done.
“But the man who runs the operations on
behalf of Wike and directs which account and
fund to privilege is Mr. Hama, the so called
SA to the executive secretary of UBEC.
“Sources at UBEC disclosed that, “the SA tag
is just a camouflage because the man is the
defector Executive Secretary of UBEC.
“The executive secretary, Dr. Dikko dares not
take any decision or implement anything
without clearance from Mr, Hama who is one
of Mr. Nyesom Wike’s enforcers at UBEC.
“Any program or project that does not provide
an easy avenue for stealing huge sums of
money does not get any attention no matter
how vital that project may be to the
educational system.”
“Some of the fraudulent schemes used in
stealing billions of Naira year in year out are:
Teachings: “Billions of Naira are stolen each
year by arrangement of bogus teaching
programs in luxury hotels where little or
nothing is achieved but billions of Naira are
budgeted and wasted as the monies finds its
way into private pockets. One of such
fraudulent teachings schemes that occurred
under Mr. Wike is now being investigated by
the EFCC.
“The investigation involves the top
management of UBEC and one of the fronts
used in siphoning the money but, was not
settled according to plan. In the said case,
over 100 million was siphoned from UBEC for
a fraudulent teaching program but, all that
took place was a jamboree in a five star
hotel.
Vocational Schools: “Billions of Naira was
budgeted for the building of vocational
schools but in most cases not much has been
done even though huge sums have been
disbursed and vanished under the watchful
eyes of Mr Wike.
Instructional Material Funds: “This is the
biggest fraud that has been going on since
the Jonathan administration came into office.
During Wike’s tenure alone, over 60 billion
has been on the dubious supply of free text
books to students, but, actual amount of
books supplied is not more than N5 Billion
and the books in usable condition out there in
the schools are not up to 200 million worth of
books.
“The free textbooks supply scheme is a
perfect cover for high yield frauds because
billions of naira is budgeted to address a
need that does not exist since parents are
already providing these books for their wards.
“So nobody is clamoring for the books and
nobody complains if they are not delivered.
More importantly there is no way of verifying
whether the supply was made since there is
no standing stock as the books are assumed
to be in the hands of the students.
“So each year the actual amount committed
to supply of textbooks is about 10-15% of the
budgeted amount, just for the purpose of
launching the scheme in the states, the rest
goes into private pockets. That is why the
textbook supply is such a favored project in
UBEC because everyone from UBEC
headquarters to the SUBEBS are settled while
the student and our education system are
short-changed.
“The involvement of the former first lady and
Gov. Nyesom Wike made the textbook
contractors untouchable. So while our
schools remain empty without proper
learning, the yearly pillage of government
money goes on.”
The group further called on President Buhari
to make good his promises to strengthen the
EFCC and empower it to investigate and
prosecute government officials including
former ministers who had stolen billions of
Naira during their tenure, expressing
confidence that doing so the president will
recover a lot money to run the economy of
the country.
Mrs Patience Jonathan and Mr Nyesome Wike
are not new to unholy alliance. Both joint
forces during the last general election to
criminally supress the wish of the Rivers
people as their thugs went on rampage
across the state killing and injuring APC
members.
And in fraudulent connivance with security
agencies, state Resident Electoral
Commission, both the presidential and
governorship election results were written to
favour both Jonathan and Wike.
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