The chairman of the dissolved the governing board of the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) Leonard Shilgba, has accused the Federal Ministry of Education of covering up fraud in the examinations agency.
Mr. Shilgba made the accusation in a statement he issued on Wednesday in response to the announcement of the dissolution of the governing board.
He alleged the Ministry of Education ignored the report of corruption in the agency and that the Minister, Adamu Adamu, blocked his attempts to meet him over the report.
The governing board had acted on the report of a special investigative committee it set up on allegations of corruption at NABTEB by suspending the registrar of the agency, Ifeoma Abanihe, and four of its directors.
According to reports the four other directors suspended are those of Finance and Accounts, Examination Administration, Examinations Development, and the Procurement Officer.
Their suspension was approved by the NABTEB Governing Board at its meeting on June 19 in Benin, Edo State.
However, on Monday, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the dissolution of the governing board with immediate effect and the reinstatement of the Registrar and four directors.
According to Mr Echono, “The purported suspension of the Registrar, Prof. Ifeoma Abanihe, and four (4) other Directors of NABTEB has been nullified as it did not conform with due process especially in the case of the Registrar, because the Board went beyond its powers and in contravention of section 5 and Section 6 of NABTEB Act.”
Responding to the turn of events through a statement on Wednesday, the chairman of the dissolved governing board, Mr Shilgba, said it acted in line with its statutory powers and called on President Buhari to intervene.
He said the governing board suspended the reinstated officials after an investigative panel found them guilty of some infractions.
Mr Shilgba further stated that the board reported the findings of the investigative panel to the ministry before sanctioning the officials, but the Ministry ignored the report and failed to act on it.
“The board communicated its actions to the Minister for further necessary action via a letter referenced, NABTEB/GB/CH/HME/001, titled: ‘Some Urgent Decisions of the Governing Board of NABTEB,” Mr Shilgba stated.
According to him, “I further requested a physical meeting with the Minister via an email, dated June 20, 2018, and also by a text as follows:
“‘Dear Honourable Minister, greetings, sir. I have sent to your email address certain urgent decisions, which were unanimously taken by the Governing Board of NABTEB at its first regular meeting on June 19, 2018. I seek an appointment with you on Thursday or Friday this week to give you hard copies of the documents cited in my mail to you.’”
Mr Shilgba said he flew to Abuja on Thursday and stayed till Saturday but the minister did not grant him an appointment or respond to his emails or text messages.
“According to Rule 160201 of the Public Service Rules (PSR), ‘The Minister exercises control of Parastatals at policy level through the Board of the Parastatal only,’” he said.
“What should a Governing Board do, when the Minister avoids it, and there are matters requiring his urgent attention?”
Mr Shilgba said it was a violation of paragraph 13 of the administrative guidelines for the Minister to avoid meeting with a Governing Board.
Mr Shilgba has appealed to President Buhari to intervene in the matter.
641738 826078Hello I discovered the Totally free Simple Shopping Icons Download | Style, Tech and Internet post very interesting therefore Ive included our track-back for it on my own webpage, continue the wonderful job:) 304771
734325 278055As I internet site owner I believe the articles here is really great , thankyou for your efforts. 828642
Yolonews.us covers local news in Yolo County, California. Keep up with all business, local sports, outdoors, local columnists and more. https://yolonews.us/