His Royal Highness Alhaji Sani Mohammed Bako III is the 22nd Emir of Karshi and chairman governing council, Nasarawa State polytechnic Lafia. In his interview with MOHAMMED YANGIDA, he explained how he rescued the institution from the verge of total collapse.
Sir, you are chairman of the council. Why do you also lecture in the institution?
It is out of free will because I have passion for it, and love to meet student in class that is why.
Are you on salary and what course do you teach?
I used to teach Political Science in Nasarawa State University Keffi before I was appointed chairman governing council of the state polytechnic. Then I wrote to the university that I couldn’t continue with them. They now moved my teaching work to the polytechnic. I’m not on salary because I am a first class traditional ruler in the state. Why should I collect salary there? If I do, it’s as good as saying I don’t want to be the Emir anymore.
When you were appointed chairman governing council, how did you meet the institution?
In fact, the institution was at the state of comatose because of high level corruption.
I met the school in a state of decay with all the systems in shambles, but all that has changed now. Also when I came on board, I met the school with only one HND programme 18 years after its establishment. Then we put in our best because we want to serve and not to be served. The rector and I went to Kaduna for days seeking accreditation for the institution. Eventually, we got it. Now under me, the institution has about eight additional HND approved programmes which I believed is a great achievement to the institution.
How were you able to achieve that within a short time considering the long years of decay?
Yes, it is all about passion and commitment. We travelled round without being paid for hotel bills and no allowance from the school. We wanted to ensure that the school gains it lost glory and I was proud to use my money instead of taking it from the school towards ensuring that this school gets accredited. I do not like taking money without due process and I can’t wait until approval is got. Even as I am talking to you up, I didn’t collect a dime from the school because together we would salvage the institution. I was so fortunate to meet with the executive secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr, Mas’ud Kazaure, a humble person who listened to our complains. I told him that as chairman of council, I have the passion to restore the lost glory of the institution. Because of the discussion we had with him even before going to the meeting which he summoned with all the chairmen of council this gentleman has to take me with him at the high table. He gave me the opportunity to speak on the fracas between the management and the council. I referred them to the law establishing the council and the management where everything is clearly stated. He now advised us to go and look at our laws, saying where there are conflicts; we should seek redress with the appropriate bodies which we did.
Were there abnormalities that you discovered?
First and foremost, I must say that I was not happy with the way money was being spent in the institution in the form of transactions. So, when I realised that, I summoned a meeting together with the bank managers, management and members of the council and I told them how dismayed I was. What baffled me was the transaction done in May alone where N22 million spent could not be accounted for. I summoned another meeting and told them that those abnormalities must stop and that the money must be returned. However, we later got to understand that the former principal officers of the polytechnic on dismissal were receiving alert.
The rector and bursar are the ones to receive bank alerts about transactions done in the school. How come you also receive bank alert of the school?
I have never received bank alert for any transaction about the institution because I am not signatory to the account. It was as a result of the abnormalities we discovered. I then summoned another meeting with the managers of First Bank, UBA, and Zenith where I expressed our dismay as a council, saying that as a management, we are not happy with the way things were happening. They all apologised and we accepted. Together, we all proposed that one of us should be receiving alert to serve as a check and balances. As chairman of the council, what is bad in seeing alerts? It was even the banks that suggested that the bank would allow three persons with only two to see alert. So, we agree that the alert should continue to go the rector and bursar. We did not change it; they now suggested that the third person in order to encourage check and balance will only receive a mail now. I can tell you what we have. On a daily basis, I see our transactions and should be able to ask question on how the transaction came about.
On the issue of N100 million given to the school by the state government for accreditation, were you able to use the money for what was meant for?
The money given to us was N163 million not N100 million. When we came on board, there was nothing tangible on ground so we went and had an interface with Dr, Mansur. He really assisted us to get accreditation. The Bursar department should be able to tell you that the money was judiciously used and it was spent collectively. I want to see a department that would come out and tell me that they have not used the money in one way or the order. All of us were party to the money that was spent as far as the accreditation was concerned. No single money goes out without approval.
How true is it that you have hijacked the duties of the rector?
How do I take over his function for God sake? I don’t sign cheques and no correspondent from TETfund was ever addressed to me as chairman of the governing council, so how did I take over his function? I have never gone to TETfund with the rector because he heads management and I head the council, so we have different functions; they report to the council and we report to the visitor for submissions.
Why do you chair tender board meeting contrary to the regulations which gave the rector the power to chair such meeting?
How I was made to serve as the chairman of the tender board was not my decision but the council. In the council, there was finance and general purpose committee, and the committee is usually headed by the chairman of the council; so the chairman of governing council is the one that heads finances, so who do you expect to chair the tender board? So, you see it is not personal, if anybody will fault me being the chairman of the tenders board, then is faulting the council because they unanimously agreed that being the head of finance, I should head the tenders board. The former council and management contributed in putting themselves in that mess. How would it be awarding contracts without tenders board? Whoever authorises that work should be given to you cannot just sit down in your office and issue contract letters because you feel you are the rector or the chairman of the council. Does the law guarantee that? So, I want you to see the level of things we found ourselves in and if we didn’t do this thing from our own end, who would do it for us? That was how I became the chairman of tenders board. If today the government decided to say this council should go, at least, I have set a system on ground. As I am talking to you, nobody has ever written to me that i am not supposed to be the chairman of the board. If I am to oversee the finances, then what disqualifies me from been the chairman of the tenders board?
