By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
Governing Council of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja has dismissed four Lecturers for acts of Gross Misconduct and promoted eight Principal Lecturers to the rank of Chief Lecturers.
A statement from the Polytechnic signed by Uredo Omale, Head of Public Relations and Protocol Unit on Friday in Lokoja said the decision was reached at the 68th Regular Meeting of the Governing Council held on March 8.
The statement revealed that the dismissed four Lecturers two of whom are to refund about N43 million were found culpable for acts of Gross Misconduct bordering on sexual harassment and victimization of female students.
Their others offences include abscondment from duties, insubordination, falsification of records, disobedience to lawful order and diversion of TETFUND training grant, among others.
“The dismissed lecturers include Mr Abutu Thompson Okolo, Department of Language and Communication, Mr Ipinmoroti Samuel Adejoro, Mrs Adegoke Kehinde Vivian (Both of the Department of Architectural Technology) and Sylvester Ojone Blessing of Registry Department.
According to the statement, Thompson, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication, was dismissed on account of sexual harassment and victimization of a female student in the Department of Computer Science.
Mr Ipinmoroti and Mrs Adegoke were dismissed for disobedience to lawful order, falsification of document to obtain training grant and diversion of the said training grant to the tune of 22,676,500.00 and 21,204,000.00 respectively.
The Council further directed the Management to use available legal means to recover from Mr Ipinmoroti and Mrs Adegoke the total sum of 22,676,500 and 21,204,000 respectively, being the fund they fraudulently collected as training grant without undergoing the training at the approved University in Malaysia.
“Mrs Slyvester Ojone Blessing was dismissed for absconding from duty from 5th January, 2020 to 31st July, 2022.
“Mrs Ojone is to refund the sum of 1,356,653.79, being the unearned salaries drawn from the Government within the period of abscondment”, the statement added.
In similar vein, the Polytechnic has also terminated the appointment of Mr Aremu Oloruntoba Samuel of the Department of Social Science and Humanities, on account of gross misconduct bordering on extortion of students in the name of Continuous Assessment (CA).
The probationary appointment of Mr Aremu was therefore terminated, just as he was directed to refund the sum of Two hundred of Ten thousand naira (N210,000.00) only being the illegal money he imposed and collected from the students for Continuous Assessment (CA).
The Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof. Isa Yakubu on behalf of the Council lauded the Management of the Polytechnic under the Rector, Dr Salisu Ogbo Usman, for its dedication to service, and called for more positive reforms for sustainable academic development and excellence in the Institution.
The Chairman also congratulated the newly promoted Chief Lecturers and charged them to justify the promotion with more dedication, hard work and excellent research for academic development.
The Rector, Dr Ogbo Usman appreciated the Chairman and Members of the Governing Council for the sustained support and consistent encouragement.
He admonished staff at all levels to desist from unethical conducts capable of tarnishing the hard earned reputation of the Polytechnic and specifically to their families.
The Rector lauded Governor Yahaya Bello for providing the enablement for the entrenchment of reforms and non-interence in the internal administration of the Polytechnic.
