When Professor Jude Njoku, the then Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, was ousted from office over his attempts to sway the Minister of Education to allocate more funds to his institution with a whopping bribe of forty million Naira, the conventional notion could have been that Njoku was simply a wart on an otherwise supple skin whose removal paved the way for the skin to heal. If Nigeria were an ethical society, proper handling could have included a thorough scrutiny of the ramifications of the institution to determine whatever levers and arteries of graft existed in it so as to uproot them accordingly.
An investigation by SaharaReporters is showing not only that Njoku was driven by greed to secure the funding increase that could have sustained the culture of stupendous graft that he put in place in the institution; that culture is alive and well in FUTO. The characters that oiled and made that culture to thrive in FUTO are very much alive, thriving and gorging themselves. One such character is an individual by the name of Mr. Kelechi Ezike, an architect who operates an Enugu-based practice called KelIyke Associates. He has functioned as the man Friday for Njoku, with whom he bilked enormous sums from the University.
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Officially, Mr. Ezike’s firm is retained by the university as consultants and architects. But that’s not the intriguing part of the story. He presides over a system in which the VC, the University bursar, and the other principal officers receive an unwritten percentage of whatever he charges and receives from the University for jobs he is awarded by FUTO. Mr. Ezike, the VC, and the rest would over-inflate each contract that he tenders for and receives, in order to accommodate the percentage of the graft that he dolls out to each one of them as soon as he is paid. The amounts involved run into millions of Naira. Although Mr. Ezike is professionally certified, architects who spoke to us disclosed that it is unusual for one like him who is not highly accomplished to command the sort of multi-million Naira fees that he receives from FUTO.
Professor’s Njoku’s forced departure was quite unsettling to Mr. Ezike, and for a time, he was like a fish out of water. However, right after Professor Celestine O. E. Onwuliri, the current Vice-Chancellor assumed office, Mr. Ezike was quick to work with the bursar and the other principal officers of the University to immerse himself well into systemic graft at FUTO. Professor Onwuliri himself has been a quick learner. SaharaReporters gathered that Onwuliri’s asking cut is currently thirty-eight percent (38%), although he recently alerted Mr. Ezike that it was high time he reviewed his fees upward. Mr. Ezike’s charge, which began at five million Naira, and then climbed to ten and fifteen million, is likely to increase again to accommodate the increase that is bound to come from Professor Onwuliri.
These days Mr. Ezike boastfully serenades his friends with his deep roots in the FUTO system and how close he has come to scooping up billions instead of millions. He told some that his recent trip to the US to purchase cars is a start, and that he will bring his entire family on vacation next year. He is taking a leaf from Professor Onwuliri in the later regard. SaharaReoprters found that ever since he began to harvest from the graft, Onwuliri, who is from Mbaise, quickly developed the appetite to send his own family to the US on vacation. Professor Njoku utilized much of his loot to erect a palatial home in his home town of Ngor Okpuala, Imo State.
The big eye popper in what goes on in FUTO over architectural consulting is that out of the several buildings that are approved and designed on campus, only a few are actually built. Why does Professor Onwuliri, a knight of St. Jude as well as Justice of Peace, seek approval for new buildings, spend millions to have them designed, and begin the process anew in a rolling fashion? There is of course the evident absence of oversight by the federal ministry involved. How much of the graft are the relevant officers in Abuja involved in? It doesn’t seem like the graft that prevails in FUTO stops with Mr. Ezike and architectural designs. Someone close to Professor Onwuliri disclosed that he once explained that his preference for utilizing consultants in almost everything that he does in FUTO was because of what he described as the gross inefficiency of the regular staff in the institution.
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