Witness claims ex-Kwara Gov misappropriated ₦5bn in teachers’ salaries
The trial of former Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Finance Commissioner, Engr. Ademola Banu, over the alleged embezzlement and mismanagement of ₦5.78 billion resumed on Wednesday before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar at the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.
The former governor and his finance commissioner are accused of conspiring to steal funds intended for the payment of salaries to teachers at the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC).
They are also charged with misappropriating funds meant for security and infrastructure development in the state. The defendants were arraigned on October 21, 2024, by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
However, both defendants pleaded not guilty. As a result, they were granted bail, and the case was adjourned for trial.
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the EFCC called its first witness, Abubakar Hassan, an Assistant Director of Finance at the Universal Basic Education Commission.
While being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Hassan told the court that the Kwara State Government misappropriated about N5 billion meant to execute projects at primary and junior secondary schools between 2013 and 2015 when Abdulfatah Ahmed held sway as governor.
During his testimony, Hassan explained that the matching grant funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission were intended to provide various infrastructural facilities for primary and junior secondary school students, such as school buildings, laboratories, toilets, water and sanitation, and cultural education.
Hassan stated that the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had prepared and submitted an action plan for 2013, which was approved for the execution of certain contracts. The Commission provided funds for 2013, 2014, and 2015, with Kwara State receiving a matching grant of about ₦2 billion for 2013, ₦876 million for 2014, and ₦982 million for 2015, totaling around ₦5 billion.
He revealed that while the implementation of the 2013 Action Plan had begun, with contractors mobilized to the sites, a project monitoring exercise discovered that the funds intended for the 2013 projects had been diverted by Kwara SUBEB. Approximately ₦2 billion was found to be misappropriated.
Following this discovery, the project monitoring committee reported the diversion to Kwara SUBEB and recommended corrective actions, but received no response. Consequently, the Commission wrote to the banks to return the 2014 and 2015 funds paid to the state.
Hassan further clarified that there were no activities for 2016, 2017, and 2018 due to the state’s failure to comply with UBEC’s earlier recommendations concerning the diverted funds. He also emphasized that the responsibility for spending UBEC grants lay solely with SUBEB, and neither the State Governor nor any external parties had any role in the spending process.
Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the case until February 17, 2025, for further hearing.
Proofreading by Uchechi Ojo, Sub-editor at NeptunePrime.
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