THE National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna has admitted to channelling accreditation funds directly into staff personal accounts in clear violation of Nigeria’s Public Sector Financial Regulation Act and the Ministry of Education’s directives.
In its rebuttal to The ICIR‘s report titled: NBTE Executive Secretary under fire over multibillion naira fraud allegations, the NBTE dismissed it as a campaign orchestrated by disgruntled staff under investigation.
It, however, failed to provide clear backing from the Nigerian extant law and Ministry of Education.
Rather, a statement by the NBTE’s head of media unit, Fatima Abubakar, confirmed ICIR’s finding that funds intended for accreditation processes were disbursed directly into personal accounts of staff members.
In its rebuttal, the board acknowledged that it disregarded explicit instructions to process all public funds exclusively through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“Since the creation of NBTE in 1977, physical accreditation had been done through cash advances to staff, who in turn pay resource persons air tickets, honoraria etc and at the end make retirements which were audited. The introduction of digital accreditation which would require no such cash advances in early 2024, meant clearance of a backlog of physical accreditations some paid in 2021. That period saw a lot of activities and cash advances all of which have now been retired.
“NBTE had closed the door for physical accreditation but due to complaint from stakeholders we had to allow a window till March 2025 to enable all institutions fix their ICT infrastructure. From April 2025 only digital accreditation shall be sustained and if any institution wants physical accreditation, it shall be outsourced to consultants as approved by the Minister of Education,” the statement said.
The board however kept mum on receiving accreditation fees into the NBTE Consult account—a private-sector entity established in 2021 by the Executive Secretary, Idris Bugaje, – even though this contravene established financial regulations and permission to do so was explicitly denied by the Ministry of Education.
The ICIR had reported that in many instances some institutions paid significant sums to complete their accreditation processes. But, instead of these funds reaching NBTE’s official accounts, they were funnelled into the privately managed NBTE Consult account—a move that flouted government financial regulations and bypassed proper oversight.
Since the creation of the NBTE consult, two directors have headed the unit in the past but in 2024, Bugaje was said to have removed one Bilkisu Daku, and appointed his in-law, Sani Nuhu KofarMata, as the managing director.
The ICIR reported that NBTE Executive Secretary, Bugaje was grilled by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), over allegations of unauthorised withdrawal of about N170 million from the Board’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) into personal accounts.
The investigation followed a petition sent to the commission by a whistleblower alleging the creation of an illegal kickback fund, corruption and nepotism, among other accusations, against Bugaje.
In reaction the NBTE in the statement said the top boss, was not being investigated by the ICPC. “Let it be stated clearly that the Executive Secretary is not under any investigation by ICPC. In mid 2024, there were several petitions by Lawal Hafiz, then suspended Director of NBTE and his collaborators, on allegations of diversion of funds for accreditation which was answered in letters to the Hon. Minister of Education and other government agencies,” it stated.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M