EXCLUSIVE: Irregular Job Placement, Over bloated Workforce, Shady Promotion Hit D.S Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic

ABEOKUTA – Since assumption of office by Prince Dapo Abiodun-led administration, the two major state owned Polytechnics; Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta and D.S Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori, have been battling with survival and financial independence.

 

These two institutions since 2019 are without substantive Rectors and Governing Council to manage the affairs of the Polytechnics.

 

THE ENCOUNTER NEWS recall that, two years after the Ogun State Government advertised in the newspaper for the position of Rectorship in these institutions and 18 months after interview, short listing of the successful candidates for the job had not been made known to the public.

 

The negligence action by the state government on these institutions made the Acting Rectors to be wayward  and repressive, a situation if  unchecked may snowball into a major anarchy.

The once promising D.S Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori, Ogun state may soon be thrown into oblivion with the mediocrity, gross misconducts, irregular job placement and misuse of public office by the Ag. Rector whose insistence to appoint  Mrs. Foluke Olubunmi Oyedele, a Deputy Registrar in the institution via the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as the Ag. Registrar while there is a legitimate one in office.

 

Mrs. Oyedele was on 3^rd April, 2007 offered temporary appointment into the services of the Gateway ICT Institute (now known as D.S Adegbenro Polytechnic, Itori) as Administrative Officer II on HATISS 7 upon application letter and presentation on her B.A Ed Degree in English from Obafemi Awolowo, University, Ile-Ife obtained in 1995.

 

Letter of authority to effect salary payment showing date of resumption of Mrs Oyedele to the Polytechnic as 3rd April, 2007 at grade level HATISS 7/2

But some aggrieved staff of the Polytechnic accused the Deputy Registrar of being unduly favoured and strategically for the being positioned to the position of Registrar.

Mrs. Oyedele was alleged and found to have been upgraded to the position of Administrative Officer I on HATISS 8 on the 27^th July, 2007 upon the presentation of “To Whom It May Concern” which according to the aggrieved staff contravened the regulations governing Scheme of Service and Conditions of Service of staff of the institution as only the presentation of valid certificate is acceptable.

 

Sources claimed that, unlike other staff, she had been earning her promotion as and when due; from the post of Assistant Registrar on CONTEDISS 9 on October 1, 2010, she was upgraded to Senior Assistant Registrar on CONTEDISS 11 in October 1, 2013. Three years later, she was promoted to Principal Assistant Registrar on CONTEDISS 13, while in October 1, 2019, she assumed the position of Deputy Registrar on CONTEDISS 14.

 

Letter of acceptance of appointment by Mrs Oyedele in march, 2007

Investigation by THE ENCOUNTER NEWS revealed that Mrs. Oyedele was appointed by the then Rector, Mr. Olufunso Olusanya as Acting Registrar of the Polytechnic when she was only less than five years n the system on December 12, 2011, a position she held till September 2012 when a new Head of Registrar’s Department was appointed.

 

Further checks revealed that she had only worked in two units under the Registry Department till date; Council Affairs as well as Guidance and Counseling Unit.

 

Inside sources disclosed that Mrs. Oyedele came third at the interview conducted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ogun State.

 

It is on record that in 2011 and 2012 when Mrs. Oyedele was appointed as the Acting Registrar, she fraudulently signed a letter of appointment offer dated June 15, 2006 to one Mr. Olusanya Olufunso, a former Rector of the Polytechnic into the position of Chief Lecturer on behalf of the sitting Registrar who was kept in the dark.

 

Personal record Falsified by Oyedele while appointed as Ag. Registrar by the Pioneer Rector Mr. Olusanya Olufunso O. with wholesome connivance of the then Establishment officer, Mr Muritala Azeez Segun. (Alteration 1)

As at the time of signing and issuing of that particular letter in 2006, Mrs. Oyedele had not been employed into the services of the Polytechnic.

 

Offer of employment to Mr Olusanya Olufunso O.(pioneer rector) in June, 2006, while she was offered employment in the poly technic in 2007

For the purpose of clarity, she was offered a temporary appointment as Administrative Officer II on April 3, 2007, the controversial letter was written and signed about nine months before she was employed into the Polytechnic.

Sources claimed that, Mrs. Oyedele falsified her Personal record while appointed as  Ag. Registrar by the Pioneer Rector Mr. Olusanya Olufunso O. with wholesome connivance of the then Establishment officer, Mr Muritala Azeez Segun.

Another document obtained by our reporter indicated that Mrs. Oyedele allegedly falsified her personal record by alteration as Administrative Officer II on HATISS 7/2 to Administrative Officer I on HATISS 8/2.

 

Falsification of record by alteration by Mrs Oyedele (2)

The sources maintained that, Mrs. Oyedele also prepared and signed yet another letter dated 5th October, 2011 in the capacity of an Acting Registrar of Gateway ICT Polytechnic, Itori, Ewekoro offering appointment to the same Mr. Olusanya Olufunso as Chief Lecturer.

 

The letter of 5th October, 2011 further exposed the fraudulent practices of Mrs. Oyedele.

 

First, as at the time of signing the letter Mr. Rafiu Olusola Odusina was the Acting Registrar. Available records show that Mr. Odusina left the services of the Institution on November 1, 2011. Secondly, the letter was prepared on a letter head bearing Gateway ICT Polytechnic, Itori whereas, the Institution has been renamed D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori, since year 2009 and all correspondences were immediately changed to reflect the new identity.

 

Offer of appointment to Mr  Olusanya Olufunso O. in Oct, 2011 by Mrs Oyedele which was fraudulent as there was a sitting Acting Registrar, Alhaji Rauf Odusina who was then the Secretary to the  Governing Council

Aside from the above observed fraudulent practices, other heinous ones was the falsification of her employment record.

 

This sad development is a gross abuse of office in which Mrs. Oyedele personally altered her letter of temporary appointment from Administrative Officer II to Administrative Officer I. The same alterations were contained in different Establishment Forms.

 

Information has it that two sets of confirmation of appointment letters exists for staff who had spent not less than two years in the service of the Institution prior to December, 2011.

 

On her assumption of office as Acting Registrar in 2011, Mrs. Oyedele issued another letter of confirmation of appointment to some set of staff, her loyalists, who had previously been issued same by her immediate predecessor Mr. Odusina for unknown reasons.

 

Letter of recommendation to Mrs Oyedele by her former employer for appointment at Gateway Polytechnic, Itori

From the foregoing, it is very evident that Mrs. Oyedele has been unduly favoured and strategically positioned for the post of Registrar, the more reason the right placement of appointment of other staff who could pose a threat to attainment of this sinister goal was vehemently turned down by the administration of Mr. Olusanya Olufunso the then Rector of the Polytechnic whose fraudulent acts were exposed and reported to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology by the Academics Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) of the Institution then.

 

When contacted, Mrs. Oyedele denied all allegations leveled against her and feigned ignorance of any petition against her.

 

In a WhatsApp chat with our reporter, she said, “Good day gentleman of the press. I am not aware of any allegations leveled against me. Nobody has petitioned me.”

 

Amongst the many institutionalization of fraud and perpetuations of illegality under Mr. Olusanya Olufunso administration was the employment of Mr. Job Kehinde Olatunji, a green horn into a position of Senior Lecturer, without cognate experience, Master degree, journal publications and Peer Reviewed Conference papers required for attainment of such a highly cerebral tasking academic position.

 

However, this over-bloated position had been mysteriously sustained as he had earned promotion to Principal Lecturer position that made him sit at the helms of affairs in that institution as the Acting Rector since May 2020, without vision or mission.

 

Some members of staff who spoke to THE ENCOUNTER NEWS on condition of anonymity opined that constitution of Governing Council for this institution will definitely bring about sanity into the polytechnic.

 

It is evident that D. S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Itori unlike other sister ICT polytechnics in the State and MAPOLY has an establishment and infrastructural problems, therefore a thorough independent personnel, infrastructural and financial audits will be a right step in the right direction to reposition this once promising institution and self perpetuation, mediocrity and gross misconducts remains the albatross that is sliding DS Adegbenro Polytechnic into oblivion.