The House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets has halted the allocation of plots of land and houses at Kaduna Polytechnic to individuals who are not staff members of the institution.
The committee’s resolution was sequel to the consideration of the petition by the serving and retired staff of Kaduna Polytechnic against the management of the school.
The committee also summoned the Rector of the Kaduna Polytechnic, Dr Suleiman Umar.
Also invited for the Investigative hearing is a Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Head of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) as well as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics, SSANIP, Kaduna Polytechnic branch.
The Chairman, House Committee on Public Assets, Ademorin Kuye said the specific date, time and venue for their appearance will be communicated to them.
The petitioners in the petition to the Speaker, House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen PhD lamented how the authorities of the Kaduna Polytechnic are carrying out illegal action by carving out parts of their plots of land and selling them to non-staff of the institution without remitting the money to the government account.
The petitioners also noted that most of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the polytechnic are not aware of the sale of the houses and plots of land belonging to the institution.
In his remark during the investigative hearing, Chairman, Kuye said the Speaker referred the petition to his committee for proper consideration and investigation.
Following the submissions of the Presidential Implementation Committee, management of Kaduna Polytechnic and petitioners during the hearing, the committee announced the suspension of all allocations of plots of land and staff quarters of Kaduna Polytechnic to non-staff of the school pending the conclusion of investigations into the alleged sharp practices in the sale of the properties.
Kuye who made the announcement said the suspension becomes necessary because if most of the plots of land and houses of the school are sold to non-staff, the future lecturers and non-teaching staff will not find it easy to operate.
Kuye said “We have a lot of students who are in school now who will become staff of the Kaduna Polytechnic tomorrow. If you sell all the land and staff quarters particularly to non-staff of the school now, where will they be tomorrow?”
He said from the resolution arising from an out-of-court settlement by relevant parties on the issue of leasing Kaduna Polytechnic properties which was presented to the committee by the Presidential Implementation Committee, there was no provision for non-staff of the school to be a beneficiary of the allocations.
The Head of the Presidential Implementation Committee, Bala Sanusi in his submission told the House Public Assets Committee that the issue of leasing Kaduna Polytechnic plots of land and houses had resulted in a legal battle that lasted for over ten years but was later resolved through an out of court settlement.
According to Sanusi, the agreement reached by the parties involved in the case led to the resolution which was approved by Kaduna Polytechnic Board, PIC and Secretary to the Federal Government.
According to the resolution, ”Non-staff of Kaduna Polytechnic shall not be a beneficiary of the allocations of plots of land and houses”.
In their presentation, the petitioners comparing retired and serving staff of the school noted that contrary to the resolution as presented by the PIC, most of the school’s properties for lease were sold to non-staff while several staff were not aware that such things were ongoing.
The PIC boss was unable to also provide an answer on which medium he used in advertising the sale that gave outsiders information on the process of the sale of the school properties while most of the staff were ignorant of it.
Two leaders of the delegation of the petitioners, Dr Omale Apochi and Isiaka Bankole noted that they only got information on the process on an owner-occupier basis, adding that most of their colleagues were ignorant of the process.
They alleged that despite meeting all the requirements, including payments ranging from N4.7 million, N6 million among others, the authorities of the institution through acting Director of Works, Abdulrahman Tukur Usman of Kaduna Polytechnic, a consultant with PIC, Nura Usman and one Gimba Elisha, their plots of land were carved out and sold to non-staff of the school without remitting the proceed to government account.
Although Abdulrahman Usman who represented the school on behalf of the Rector, Dr Suleiman Umar, lied about knowing Nura Usman, he quickly reverted, agreeing to know him, after he was warned of the consequences of lying to the committee on oath
The committee promised to visit the disputed site of the Kaduna Polytechnic for further investigation.
