(ASCOED) Abia College Of Education To Get N600m Education Fund

The Rector of the Abia State College of Education (Technical),? Arochukwu, Dr Christian Nwanmuo, said on Sunday that the institution had an outstanding N600 million to collect from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Nwanmuo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that the amount was for a three-year project in the school, which was yet to be released.

He said that the money would be released only when TETFUND was satisfied with the expenditure of funds, previously released to the institution for projects.

The rector added that the projects, which include a technical workshop complex, a multi-purpose science laboratory, two buses and a power generating set, had long been completed.

He noted that the workshop was built at a cost of N180 million, the generating set procured at N115 million while N94 million was spent on the construction of the multi-purpose science laboratory.

Nwanmuo said that all the projects were undertaken from 2008 to 2010 and had been duly inspected by officials of the fund.

He said that authorities of the institution had been making frantic efforts to access the N600 million for other developmental projects, disclosing that the school had submitted proposal for 2010/2011 projects.

The projects in the proposal, he said, include buildings for the School of Vocational Studies/Education, Home Economics, Fine and Applied Arts and Business Education Departments.

He said that the projects also include a N180 million technical workshop complex and a N94 million multi-purpose science laboratory complex.

The institution’s boss, who confirmed that he was being probed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for alleged financial impropriety, attributed the investigation to the “handiwork of my detractors”.

NAN recalls that two workers in the college who claimed to be aggrieved over Nwanmuo’s style of administration at a news conference on Monday in Umuahia, accused him of misappropriating several hundreds of millions of naira belonging to the institution.

They specifically accused Nwanmuo of embezzling TETFUND's money released to the school and fees collected from the institution’s 21 study centres.

The rector, however, denied the allegations, describing it as “frivolous” and a plot by his detractors to tarnish his image in order to stop his second term bid. (NAN)