A witness, Abubakar Hassan, Assistant Director of Finance at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), testified on Wednesday that the former Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Finance Commissioner, Engr. Ademola Banu, allegedly mismanaged over N5 billion, as reported by Daily Trust.

The trial is ongoing before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.

According to Hassan's testimony, the former governor and his finance commissioner were accused of conspiring to mismanage funds meant for the payment of teachers' salaries, security, and other infrastructural facilities under the Kwara State UBEC.

The alleged mismanagement of funds is said to have occurred during the tenure of the former governor, and the trial is aimed at determining the extent of the alleged mismanagement and holding those responsible accountable.

They were subsequently arraigned on October 21, 2024 by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

However, the duo pleaded not guilty and were admitted to bail before the case was adjourned for trial.

At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Hassan, the commission’s first witness, while being led in evidence by counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the court how about N5bn meant to execute projects at primary and junior secondary schools between 2013 and 2015, when Ahmed held sway as governor was allegedly mismanaged.

According to him, “the matching grant funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission is meant to provide certain infrastructural facilities for both students of primary and junior secondary schools. Such facilities include the construction of primary schools, provision of laboratories for students, construction of toilets, provision of water and sanitation and cultural education.”

Hassan stated that the “Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) prepared and submitted an action plan for 2013. It was defended, and approval was given to execute certain contracts in compliance with the action plan.

“The commission made lodgment for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Kwara State got matching grant of about N2bn for 2013, N876m was released for 2014 while they got N982m in 2015, totaling about N5bn.

“Implementation of 2013 Action Plan had already commenced, contractors were already mobilized to work at the site but surprisingly, during our project monitoring exercise we discovered that the monies meant for the project (2013) had been diverted by the Kwara SUBEB. We discovered that about N2bn was diverted”.

He said following the development, the report of the project monitoring committee was sent to the Kwara SUBEB, asking them to comply with recommendations of the committee, but there was no response.

“Hence, the Commission wrote to the banks to return 2014 and 2015 funds paid to the state, he added.

He said there were no activities for 2016, 2017, and 2018 due to the failure of the state to comply with UBEC’s earlier recommendations about the diverted funds.

Hassan further stated that the responsibility of spending UBEC grants rested solely on SUBEB while the State Governor or anyone outside SUBEB has no dealing, directly or indirectly, in spending the fund.

Justice Abdulgafar adjourned further hearing in the case till February 17, 2025.