All is not well at the Federal College of Dental Technology Enugu as some aggrieved staff of the institution are alleging maladministration by the management. CHUKS NWEZE reports.
Uneasy calm is currently brewing at Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu following alleged financial misappropriation, nepotism levelled against the rector, Dr John Emaimo and some principal officers of the institution.
To this end, Blueprint gathered that some of the aggrieved workers have appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the minister of health to investigate the alleged fraudulent practices.
The angry staff are also urging the president to appoint and inaugurate a management board for the college to stop further fraudulent implementations of personnel costs, overhead costs, capital projects.
A staff of the Institution who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of being sacked said that they want the management to streamline the salary structure of all staff to reflect the salary structure of health workers both for academics and administrative staff since the college is a division under the Federal Ministry of Health.
According to the source, “Staff are complaining that when polytechnics or universities allowances on COMPCASS, CONUASS, CONTEDISS & CONTISS structures are being paid, they are told that they are not legally eligible because they belong to the Ministry of Health and not Education.
“We the staff of Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy Enugu are crying out for help to the Presidency, minister of health, National Assembly members, relevant agencies and organisations and other stakeholders to properly investigate the illegalities, financial mismanagement, corruption, nepotism in the institution.
Part of the allegations was that Dr Emaimo who budgeted over ₦2.9b in the 2022 appropriation amendments as approved and has proposed over ₦3b for the 2023 appropriation budget, has over ₦240m captured in each budget year for what is called ‘regular and non-regular allowances’ for about 4,82I PPIS enrolled staff in the entire college.
This is outside the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) generated through the out-patient units of the dental clinic, staff clinic, therapy clinic and technology laboratory and the whooping school fee paid by over 1,000 students every budget year and each student pays from the average of ₦90,000 to ₦140,000 per session depending on the programme.
Further checks revealed that the ‘Executive class’ for Degree programmes affiliated with Federal University of Technology (FUTO) pay ₦170,000 and above and has enrolled students in 100 to 500 levels. In all these bogus budgets and IGR, it was gathered that 99% of staff have been sidelined from accessing earned entitlements/allowances since 2017 till date.
How it started
An uprising of aggrieved staff started when other sister tertiary health institutions started getting paid of their backlogs of allowances in late October 2022.
It was learnt that the rector called an emergency meeting of directors and heads of departments to convince them that they shouldn’t expect payment of any backlog of allowances from 2017 to date because the college does not belong to any supervisory ministry at the moment. According to him, the college neither belongs to the Federal Ministry of Health nor the Federal Ministry of Education, with a claim that the management goes through the back door to access whatever is accrued.
However, on noticing that the staff were getting aware of the misinformation, he quickly called an impromptu meeting of staff on November 4 to douse the rising tension against general maladministration and misplaced priority.
Dr. Emaimo and Egbe Felicia, the bursar, however received the greatest shock of their lives as the staff completely disagreed with their usual tales after which the rector and bursar left the meeting in disappointment.
Findings
It was discovered after investigation that some selected staff members whom the rector feels can challenge him are being paid all their allowances secretly. To that extent, majority of staff without the wherewithal have not been paid any form of entitlements or non-regular allowances since 2017 till the date.
Call for probe
Therefore, the aggrieved workers are calling on National Assembly members, Budget Office, Auditor General, Accountant General, the press, EFCC, ICPC, FMH, OHSF, FMF, NISWC and taxpayers to further investigate on how items on disbursed monies in Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy Enugu from 2017 to date were spent by the management of the school.
Improper staff placement
Some of the aggrieved staff insist on the need for proper placement of staff in the college.
A source alleged that there were situations where many staff would apply for proper placement, some would be properly placed while some would be denied with funny and flimsy excuses that the Scheme of Service the college was using when they were employed was not the same with their mates who are properly placed without minding the seniority implications and the psychological trauma that could have on the staff in relation to productivity.
The source noted that, “In as much as the staff are in full support of the transition to university status as being pursued by the management, the rector and his management team should bear in mind that there is no vacuum in governance. While the college makes preparations for transition to university status, the management should remember to adhere to the extant laws/acts establishing the college until all the transition processes are completed.”
According to the source, the staff vowed that no outstanding kobo will be left unpaid to allowed staff, even if the college is able to transit to university status because the federal government has 2017 budgeted and disbursed these entitlements.
Staff recruitment/racketeering
Investigation also reveals that the rector, after initially denying the allegation of illegally sacking 18 workers to replace them with his family members now devised another deceptive method with the help of a staff in the registry unit to engage in ‘swapdeal’ where recruitment was conducted secretly and appointment letters issued to the highest bidders.
Rector’s reaction
Contacted, the embattled rector who spoke through the public relations officer of the college, Philip Omololu, said, “We are aware of the allegations. Some have been summoned by the DSS to come with evidence and prove their allegations.”
Omololu who is also alleged to be a beneficiary of the ‘alleged’ rector’s ‘back-door’ recruitment exercise said that the matter of corruption, nepotism and others are already before the Department of State Security (DSS) who are currently investigating it, insisting that all the allegations are baseless, false and not true.
As it is, everyone is waiting for the outcome of the ongoing investigation by the DSS as to whether the claim by the aggrieved staff are correct or false. As it is presently, it remains at the level of allegation until proved otherwise.
