FCE Eha-Amufu Refutes Alleged Burning of Procurement Documents to Hide Fraud

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Enugu

The management of Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, Enugu, has debunked insinuations that the recent fire incident at the institution was deliberately ignited to cover up alleged fraudulent financial dealings.

The Deputy Provost, Dr Samuel Odo, in an interview, said it was sheer mischief to link management with the inferno that gutted the Centre for Engineering Technology in the early hours of March 3, 2026.

“I want to tell you that management can never destroy what she has built. Management has no hand in the fire, and anybody who is alleging that should be asked questions because that person must know what actually happened,” he said.

The management’s clarification came just as the college’s governing council had concluded arrangements to launch an investigation into the fire incident.

The deputy provost condemned the “wild and false allegations” and campaign of calumny against the outgoing Provost, Prof. Pauline Ngozi Ikwuegbu and her management team.

He said that the management considers the porosity of the 45-year-old college as a major reason the institution has experienced a number of arson attacks that usually resulted in the looting of property.

“It’s a big challenge to us,” he said, adding that the absence of perimeter fencing to protect the institution from trespassers has become a nagging problem.

Odo, who addressed various insinuations and allegations circulating on social media concerning the fire incident, said that documents pertaining to procurements were not destroyed.

According to him, such allegations stemmed from ignorance, as the Procurement Unit had been relocated to a new office a year before the fire. However, he stated that the fire was devastating as it consumed “so many things” in the affected building.

Odo said, “We cried bitterly because I know so many things that we lost in that particular building, the building that is housing our exam unit, our NCE exam unit, the building that is housing our records unit, the building that is housing our postgraduate diploma in education unit, a building that is housing so many offices. Nobody will hear of that without shedding tears.”

On the alleged diversion of three buses worth N300 million, the deputy provost explained that the vehicles were procured as a constituency project, which the contractor executed through FCE Eha-Amufu as his advisory agent.

He said that it was clearly stated that one of the buses was for FCE Eha-Amufu, while the other two buses were meant for other schools in Enugu and were successfully delivered to them as stipulated in the contractual agreement.

Odo also shed light on the TETFund education support fund received by the college following allegations that the provost used the fund meant for staff to enrich her relatives, cronies and allies.

“Well, anything about TETFund is in the open market,” he said, adding that it was well documented that the provost gave TETFund education grants to over 70 staff between 2018, when she assumed duties and 2024/2025.

He added that the leadership of both academic and non-academic staff unions of the college were always carried along and asked to nominate their members to benefit from the education support funds.

Odo said that Prof. Ikwuegbu, who became the first female provost of FCE Eha-Amufu in 2018, has done much to develop the institution and has utilised TETFund interventions transparently to improve its infrastructure.

The deputy provost noted that Ikwuegbu has developed the second and third campuses of the college, with new buildings for the Adult and Non-formal Education complex, the School of Languages, Early Learning Education, and Vocational Technical Education, among others.

He also credited the provost, who would leave office in July, with building a new 200-bed student hostel; a 1,000-capacity students’ lecture hall; and a 2.13km ring road, as well as commencing the perimeter fencing.

Aside from arson, vandalism, and property theft, Odo also identified land encroachment as a major problem facing FCE Eha-Amufu due to its porous borders. He said that the institution’s farming project has been disrupted by encroaching villagers who were displaced from their farming settlements by herders.