Exposed: How New INEC Boss Professor Yakubu Vanished With N850 Million Meant For School Desks, Chairs

Following demand by several readers for proof that the out gone Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed got N850 million from Education Tax Fund (ETF), now TETFund, we hereby publish the following:

1.Copy of the letter from Modibbo to his colleague in ETF, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu requesting the release of the N850 million for “procurement of additional classroom sitting materials (CKD) for junior secondary schools-release of the 85% take-off grant.”

Dated 7th September, 2007, this was the first official assignment undertaken by Modibbo who assumed office three days earlier.

2.Copy of page 26 of Daily Trust newspaper of Friday, August 22, 2008 (a year later) where Modibbo announced “Invitation for Pre-Qualification of Firms to Tender for the Production and Supply of Plastic Desks and Chairs for Junior Secondary Schools.”

The then UBEC boss announced in the opening paragraph of the third column of the advertorial: “UBEC, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Education HAS RECEIVED financial support from the Education Tax Fund (ETF) and intends to apply the PROCEEDS for the procurement of high-grade impact resistant copolymer resin desks and chairs for the basic education sub sector at the states and FCT level in Nigeria.”

In February 2011, both Yakubu and Ahmed were dragged before a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Abdu Kafarati by Intermarkets – a company which has initially won the right to supply the chairs and desks across the country. In an affidavit by Prof. Yakubu, he claimed the N850 million was not only safe but in his custody.

As a consequence of a court order obtained by the firms that originally won the contract, Intermarkets Nig. Ltd and Intermarkets USA, stopping UBEC from re-awarding the contract to any other firm, no single chair or desk was purchased with the N850 million ETF released in September 2007.

On July 29, 2011 Justice Kafarati ordered Yakubu and Ahmed to deposit the said N850 million in an interest-yielding account of the court.

Both Yakubu and Ahmed till the expiration of their terms on September 3, 2012 did not comply with the ruling and left office without depositing the fund to either the court’s account or that of the commissions.

Modibbo and Yakubu have both left office without declaring the whereabouts of the N850 million meant for the plastic chairs and desks.

If N850 million was fixed in September 2007, at 14 per cent interest rate, the minimum current value now would be N1.6 billion which neither Modibbo nor Yakubu has provided answers to.

Source: pointblanknews.com