The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has taken Olumuyiwa Odusanya, Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, in for interrogation over a petition accusing him of receiving kickbacks from awarded contracts.
In April, the Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA Global Resource Initiative), a non-governmental organisation, had petitioned the EFCC, accusing the VC and his management team of misappropriating an estimated N2 billion meant for course accreditation and infrastructure.
A source who learnt of the VC’s detention informed FIJ of the development on Tuesday, texting: “Though I don’t have the details, it appears the VC of LASUSTECH is in EFCC custody. You might check it out.”
When contacted for confirmation on Tuesday evening, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said he could not immediately confirm the development, asking FIJ to call back on Wednesday.
A call was then put across to Olanrewaju Kuye, spokesperson for LASUSTECH, on Tuesday evening. He confirmed the development.
“He was invited and he honoured their invitation. It was not an arrest and he was not detained,” said Kuye.
“Some people wrote a petition against the management and the EFCC has to investigate it. All the members of the management had been invited and questioned before his own invitation, which he honoured on Monday.”
ABOUT THE PETITION
Buna Olaitan Isiak, the executive director of the NGO, was reported to have said that the VC, a Professor of Public and Community Health, colluded with a procurement officer and an auditor of the school to mismanage the funds released by the Lagos government in 2021.
He claimed that Odusanya bypassed due process in awarding inflated contracts to his cronies for the purpose of receiving kickbacks.
“It is on the above strength that we are involving the office of the EFCC to investigate the allegation of a mammoth fraud allegedly perpetrated by the extant Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya in connivance with the Procurement Officer and the Auditor of the University in the embezzlement of the sum of N2 billion being awarded by the Lagos State Government for the accreditation of some of the institution’s department without following the Lagos State Public Procurement Law 2021,” The Guardian reported Isiak to have said.
“According to earlier petitioner in a document available to our office, prior to the release of the sum of N2b by the Lagos State Government for the accreditation of some of the Institution’s department in September 2024, the Vice Chancellor was expected to liaise with the Procurement Department of the University in a bid to ensure that the accreditation process complies with the Public Procurement Agency in the award of contracts.
“However, the Vice Chancellor in a clandestine arrangement and in collusion with the Procurement Officer and Auditor shelved all the laid down procedure in the award of contracts as provided by the Lagos State Public Procurement Law 2021 and hurriedly resorted to the use of Direct Award of Contract to Contractors who were personally nominated by himself (Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya) to carry out phantom contracts
“For instance, a contract that was originally slated to be awarded at the rate of N20m in value was later prodigiously increased to the sum of N50m with the connivance of other officers of the University for their personal and corrupt enrichment. This act of criminal brigandage had led to the looting of the sum of N800m from the coffers of the University.”
