The management of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has dismissed a publication alleging a multimillion Naira fraud against its Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje.
Responding to the publication titled: ‘‘NBTE Executive Secretary under fire over multimillion Naira fraud allegation’’ published on February 10, 2025, (not LEADERSHIP), the Board described the report as false, maintaining that Prof. Bugaje is not under any form of investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
NBTE’s Head, Media Unit, Office of the Executive Secretary, Mrs Fatima Abubakar fingered some staff of the of the board who were under investigation for unwholesome practices and corruption as brains behind the publication.
“Let it be stated clearly that the Executive Secretary is not under any investigation by ICPC,” she maintained.
Giving an insight into what transpired, she said, “In mid-2024, there were several petitions by Lawal Hafiz, then suspended Director of NBTE and his collaborators, on allegations of diversion of funds for accreditation which was answered in letters to the Hon. Minister of Education and other government agencies.
“Since the creation of NBTE in 1977, physical accreditation had been done through cash advances to staff, who in turn pay resource persons air tickets, honoraria etc and at the end make retirements which were audited”.
She said, the introduction of digital accreditation which would require no such cash advances in early 2024, meant clearance of a backlog of physical accreditations some paid in 2021, adding that the period saw a lot of activities and cash advances, all of which have now been retired.
“NBTE had closed the door for physical accreditation, but due to complaint from stakeholders, we had to allow a window till March 2025 to enable all institutions fix their ICT infrastructure. From April 2025, only digital accreditation shall be sustained and if any institution wants physical accreditation, it shall be outsourced to consultants as approved by the Hon. Minister of Education”.
She added that, “Ramat Polytechnic last year hosted one hundred and one (101) external resource persons as were other institutions. Paying ₦30million for 100 persons reduces it to an average of ₦300,000 per resource person which is not outrageous going by cost of air tickets.
“Furthermore, whatever institutions pay, there are other components that are not cash advanced such as copies of curricula, NBTE Journals, service charges, inspectorate surcharge, etc. For that reason, the amount paid by institutions is always higher than cash advance to the finance officers for resource persons. There were no violation of financial regulations”.
On NBTE Consult Ltd, she said it was an innovation introduced by the ES when he assumed office in 2021, adding that the company was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to carry out training and consultancy services to generate income for the board.
The head, media stressed that the company has been operating as a private sector firm within the law and generating additional revenue for the activities of the Board, which has no other major source of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the face of dwindling value of the overhead budgets.
“The NBTE had no ‘‘luxury cars’’ to sell. What the ES inherited when he took office in 2021 were a bunch of accident vehicles and a Toyota Hilux as official car. He had to borrow a car from Kaduna Polytechnic till that year ended when he managed to buy 12 brand new vehicles from our capital budget,” Abubakar explained.
She added that the alleged campaign of calumny by Hafiz and his band had been ongoing for about a year, using various print and online media.
The board stressed that it shall not be distracted, but remain focused, pledging not relent in ensuring transparency in its operations with the deployment of technology to minimise human interface and taking TVET to a new level of renewed hope for Nigerian youths.
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