The federal government has constituted a seven-man high-powered Committee to Audit the Utilisation of Grants for the take-off projects in the 12 new Federal Universities established between 2011 –2013,under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
According to a statement from Adamu Adamu,Minister of Education,the terms of Reference for the Committee’s assignment tinclude:determination of the actual amount released to the NUC by TETFund as take-off grant for projects for the twelve universities; to identify and confirm the number of contracts awarded, including contract sums under the take-off grants and to ascertain that due process was followed in the award of the contracts for the take-off projects.
Other terms of reference include:to determine the amount paid on each project, including outstanding claims if any, to date;to assess the status of the various projects implemented using the take-off grants; and to make recommendations for any other issues relating to projects implementation in the 12 Universities.
The statement added that the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Olufemi Bamiro will serve as Chairman with Kefas M. Magaji as Secretary.
Other members of the Committee listed in the statement include S. L Abubakar, Mansur Ahmed, Umar Aliyu, Freddy Esenwa and Patrick Ehi Oshio.
The 12 New Federal Universities in focus include, those of Lokoja, Oye-Ekiti, Ndufu-Alike, Dutse, Dutsin-Ma, and Gusau. Others are Kashere, Gashua, Birnin-Kebbi, Lafia, Otuoke, and Federal University Wukari.
The Committee ,the statement added would be inaugurated by the Minister on the 2nd May 2017,while stating further that the committee is expected to complete their assignment within 12 weeks.
