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The Abia House of Assembly has begun investigating allegations of disguised takeover and mismanagement of Government College Umuahia (GCU) in the state.
The GCU is located in Ibeku land, which originally belonged to several Ibeku communities in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State.
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The state assembly’s decision to begin the investigation followed the receipt of a petition from an indigene of the Emede Community within the Ibeku Area, Chukwudi Onwudinanti.
Mr Onwudinanti, in the petition dated 17 February and read at the assembly chambers on 25 February, claimed that the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA), which currently manages the college, was running the institution contrary to its original purpose.
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He said the Abia State Government handed over the college to the GCUOBA in July 2014 after signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
The petitioner, also a former student of the college, claimed that after a few years, the GCUOBA started running the school contrary to the purpose for which it was handed over to them by the state government.
Mr Onwudinanti also alleged that the managers of the school have turned it into a “private enterprise” like a bourgeois school and cannot be accessible to average families of brilliant children within his constituency.
Investigation
The assembly’s joint committee on Education, Public Petitions and Judiciary held a hearing on the petition on Thursday.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that although all the parties in the petition were duly invited by the joint committee for the hearing, the Fisher Educational Development Trust (FEDT) did not show up at the hearing.
FEDT is a body which reportedly claims to have been set up by the GCUOBA to run the college.
Speaking at the hearing, Mr Onwudinanti told the lawmakers that his petition was intended for the House to remedy the problem of the “wrongful process” of ownership transfer of the college and its management.
Mr Onwudinanti’s comments were contained in a typewritten statement read out by his lawyer, Ugochukwu Zik.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained a copy of the typewritten statement on Monday.
He told the lawmakers that the fact the FEDT board of the GCU had increased the college’s annual school fee to above N1 million was worrisome and could deny residents access to quality education in the school.
The petitioner said he was shocked by the response he got from the FEDT board when he approached them for explanations.
“The FEDT say they are not answerable to the GCUOBA, hence not answerable to the Old Boys, therefore not representing the Old Boys. In fact, as I understand it, the FEDT members have flatly refused to accept nominations from the GCUOBA,” he said.
Mr Onwudinanti also said the current situation at the college implied that those at the FEDT board were representing themselves and in their personal capacity.
“From the foregoing, it is evident that GCU is being run without regard for the protection of public interest.
“It, therefore, means that the agreement on which this partnership was fostered is flawed and should be redrawn, FEDT abolished, and a genuinely representative management body reconstituted,” he said.
He asked the House to “re-examine and redraw” the agreement between the state government and the GCUOBA to ensure that the college’s assets remain the government’s property.
Mr Onwudinanti also prayed that the assembly reconstitute the college’s management body to represent and protect the interests of the state government and the GCUOBA.
“The new body (should) evaluate and determine the fees and uniforms of GCU to reflect the interests of the public while retaining the essence of GCU as a state heritage and landmark of historic value in the state,” he said.
The petitioner further appealed that the Certificate of Occupancy of GCU’s landed property and assets be returned immediately to the government, and the institution was declared a public school owned by the government and managed by the GCUOBA.
“It is my belief that if these prayers are answered by this house, it will remedy a great wrong, and forestall such happening in the future, in any part of the state,” he stated.
GCUOBA speaks
Also speaking at the hearing, the National President of the GCUOBA, Chinedum Ahaiwe, told the lawmakers that the old student body had incorporated FEDT to be wholly dedicated to the management of GCU after a deed of trust executed on 22 December 2014.
Mr Ahaiwe said the GCUOBA decided to bring in the FEDT to manage the GCU and “segregate the sundry activities” of the old student body from its duties as managers of the school.
“Unfortunately, the GCUOBA did not realise that it had just birthed a Frankenstein, as it’s special purpose vehicle, the FEDT, has since gone rogue, and now threatens to devour its creator,” the national president said.
He expressed surprise that FEDT suddenly “declared GCU a private school, demolished several archival, heritage buildings” in the college after claiming that they were independent of the GCUOBA, which reached an agreement with them to run the college.
Mr Ahaiwe stressed that the FEDT board subsequently changed the school uniform and pegged the fees at N2 million before bringing it down to N1.1 million later, adding that the decisions were taken without recourse to the GCUOBA.
“It might interest this House to know that the initial Trustees of the FEDT, who were appointed at the incorporation of the FEDT on the 8th of July 2014, whose 10-year tenure expired in July 2024, have bluntly refused to exit the board, even after GCUOBA had nominated replacements vide its Annual General Meeting of 2024.”
The national president asked the House to, among others, retrieve the college’s certificate of occupancy from the FEDT board and compel them to vacate office.
