Poly Lecturer Receives 5-Year Prison Term for Misappropriating Study Grant

Cursory: Muhammed Sani Nuhu, a former academic staff member of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, has been sentenced to five years in prison for misappropriating over N6 million belonging to the polytechnic. He was convicted four counts of converting the funds for personal use. Nuhu had received the money as a special grant and for a Ph.D. program, but he failed to fulfill the intended purposes. He received a sentencing of concurrent five-year prison terms while making restitution of the embezzled sum.

Muhammed Sani Nuhu, a former member of the academic staff at Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic in Kebbi State, received a five-year prison sentence for swindling the polytechnic out of approximately N6 million.

This was after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission had secured his conviction.

In a 4-count complaint filed before Hon. Justice Hassan Usman of the Kebbi State High Court, Birnin Kebbi Judicial Division, the Commission alleged that Nuhu gave himself a corrupt advantage by using the sums of money for his own use. This was stated by the Commission’s spokeswoman, Azuka Ogugua, in a statement on Tuesday.

“two million Naira (N2,000,000:00) in 2015 and four million, one hundred and seventy-three thousand, four hundred Naira (N4,173,400:00) in 2016.”

It was discovered that Nuhu, a polytechnic academic staff member who had been fired, had received the funds under two different grants: a special grant made available to him so he could attend an international conference in Aberdeen, United Kingdom; and the first installment of payment for the Doctor of Philosophy program at the University of Technology Malaysia.

In case No. KB/HC/4C/2020, the ICPC’s attorney, Mashkur Salisu, allegedly said in court during a two-year trial that the defendant refused to enroll in the program and instead transferred the funds for his own use.

His behavior violated Section 19 of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, Section 311 of the Penal Code, and Section 312 of the Penal Code Law (Cap 89) Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963, all of which make him liable for punishment.The trial judge found the former poly lecturer responsible for offenses one through three and dismissed charge number four.

So, in his ruling, Justice Usman gave him a five-year prison term on each of the three offences.Additionally, the court ruled that the convict pay the Federal Government N6.5 million in restitution, which represented the crime’s revenues. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Source: PUNCH

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