Court jails provost five years for fraud

A Zamfara State High Court in Gusau has sentenced the Acting Provost of the College of Education (Technical), Gusau, Zamfara State, Dr. Bello Ahmed, to five years in jail for collecting illegal allowance from the institution. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission had arraigned Ahmed for collecting double Duty Tour Allowance from the college for an official trip to attend a board meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, while also collecting an equal amount as DTA from JAMB, including sitting allowances, all totalling N385,000.00. This was contained in a statement signed by the ICPC Resident Consultant, Mr. Folu Olamiti, on Tuesday. The ICPC warned public servants to desist from collecting double DTA from their agencies and also receiving or demanding same in cash or facilities. The ICPC said the warning was necessary after it secured the conviction of Ahmed at the High Court of Justice, Gusau. The ICPC warned public servants to desist from conferring unfair advantage on themselves when attending meetings or during monitoring duties. The anti-graft commission said such an abuse was punishable under Section 19 of the ICPC Act, 2000. The section states that, “Any public officer who uses his office or position to gratify or confer any corrupt or unfair advantage upon himself or associate of the public officer or any public officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment of five years without option of fine.” The ICPC, Olamiti stated, gave the warning because it learnt that many public servants collected double DTA from their agencies and also received or demand same in cash or facilities from the agencies being visited. The statement partly read, “Public servants should learn from the conviction of Dr. Shallah Ahmed. He was accused of having collected DTA from the college for an official trip to attend a board meeting of the JAMB while also collecting an equal amount as DTA from JAMB, including sitting allowances; all totalling N385,000.00.”