Mr. Joseph Babatunde Akeju, Chief Lecturer, Department of Accountancy, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos
Mr. Akeju was to officially retire from service on March 20, 2018, at the age of 65 years, but was dismissed by the Governing Council of Yaba College of Technology headed by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, on March 7, 2018.
The reason the Council gave for his dismissal was that he blew the whistle on corrupt practices and other acts of improper behaviour in the institution. It was the second time Akeju would be dismissed as punishment for his principled stance with respect to openness, transparency and accountability. The first time was in 2009 for refusing to partake in the looting of the College treasury and for using his vantage position as then bursar of the College to expose the financial fraud going on in the institution. He was reinstated in 2016 by Mallam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, after seven year and half years of serious mental and physical stress.
This time, however, his dismissal is connected with of the unearthing of N1,682,806,539 (N1.68 billion) of College money unaccounted for between 2008 and 2014. Besides, there are other irregularities going on to which he called the attention of the Governing Council. But the Council decided to criminalize his genuine call for these issues to be addressed and used it as an excuse to dismiss him. The College refused to pay his salaries for February and March. By resorting to the unjust act of dismissal, the Council seeks to lay to complete waste the more than three decades Akeju had put into public service.
AFRICMIL has written to the Minister of Education for a reversal of the dismissal to allow Akeju to retire gracefully and honourably from the College, and is also following up on the whistleblower’s petition at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
