FEDPOLEL Lecturer Writes Buhari Over Alleged Maladministration, Others By Management, Governing Council

By Christian Egheneji, Daniel Dafe
A lecturer in the Department of Business Administration and Management, Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji (FEDPOLEL), Ondo State, Dr. Oloko Oladele, has sent a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari over allegations of maladministration and fraudulent practices by the institution’s management.

Dr. Oloko, who is a chief lecturer in the institution, revealed in a petition sighted by Oasis Magazine (OM) that that there has also been a violation of the federal polytechnic act 2019 that was signed into law by the polytechnic visitor, chairman, federal executive council of Nigeria, president and commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 18th of June 2019, by the management and governing council of Federal Polytechnic Ile- Oluji, Ondo State, Nigeria.

He added that Professor Emmanuel Fashakin was appointed as the Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji, Ondo State on 1st April, 2015 and ought to have vacated the office by March, 2020 in line with the Federal Polytechnic Act, 2019 but some top management staff of the Federal Ministry of Education extended his tenure for another two years, an indication that the rector will be spending seven years as rector.

The petitioner also identified as violation of the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019, the appointment of the Registrar, Bursar and Polytechnic librarian, which was fraudulently advertised on the Internet on 6th December, 2019 by the management and governing council.

Dr. Oloko noted that due process was not followed since it was well stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019 that all appointments of principal officers should be from the polytechnic section but the internet advertisement published by the Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Ondo State extended it to other tertiary institutions.

He further noted that no joint council was formed in the process of selecting the three principal officers; just as the academic board was not involved in the selecting of the three principal officers and the representatives of congregation were not involved in the selection process of the three principal officers in March 2020.

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Dr. Oloko commented that in further violation of Federal Polytechnic Act which was enacted in 2019 and signed into law on 18th June 2019, by the commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the methods and procedures in selecting the principal officers, the newly appointed registrar was coming from Federal Universities of Technology (FUTA) instead of Polytechnic sector as stated in the 2019 Act.

According to him, the newly appointed bursar has not spent a minimum of five years as a Deputy bursar as stipulated in the Act (2019) before she was appointed as the bursar of the polytechnic and the newly appointed polytechnic librarian was coming from a private university against what was stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019.

The academic submits that the position of the three principal officers ought to have been published six months before the expiration of their tenure in March 2020 in at least two national newspapers in Nigeria as also stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019.

Dr. Oloko also alleged that all the billions of Naira released by TETFUND for infrastructure development have been repeatedly embezzled and unaccounted for since the commencement of Prof. E. Fashakin’s administration.
He therefore called on the federal government to instruct the EFCC or ICPC to investigate all the financial transactions of the polytechnic since April 2015 till date.

The outspoken academic also appealed to the FG to instruct the Inspector General of Police and Director General, State Security Services to set up an independent investigating panel to look into the constant embarrassment meted on him by the law enforcement agencies due to the false reports given to them by the fraudulent administrators in Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Ondo State.

Speaking further, he alleged that his life is under threat because of the numerous petitions written by him to expose the evil perpetrated in the institution by the Professor Emamanuel Fashakin-led administration and his co-travelers in top management positions.