Lawmakers in the Adamawa State House of Assembly have passed a resolution recommending for the removal of the Provost College of Education Hong, Dr. Johnson Pongri, over alleged mismanagement of revenue generated by the buses of the College.

The legislators also said that the retirement age as stipulated by Law,  has caught up with Dr. Pongri  Provost of the College having attended the age of 65 and not yet a Professor.

The resolution of the honourable members followed the consideration and adoption of the Report of the House Special Committee on Rules, Business, Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition headed by the Majority Leader of the house Hon. Hassan Barguma (Hong constituency).

Moving a motion for the adoption of the report which was signed by 4 out of the 5 members of the committee, the Deputy Majority Leader of the house, Hon. Abubakar Isa (Shelleng) who was seconded by Hon. Umar Hammajoda Farang (Jada Mbulo) told their colleagues that the adoption of the report would help in abiding by rules and regulations governing the administration of higher institutions in the State.

Earlier the report adopted by the house as presided by the Speaker, Hon. Kabiru Mijinyawa said “there was a serious mismanagement of the revenue generated by the College buses of which there was no single record on how the money generated was expended” saying that the funds embezzled must be retrieved from the embezzlers.

It added that Section 41 (a) and (b) of the State Law 2015 establishing the College provide the compulsory retirement age for the staff of the College to include; academic staff in the professional cadre shall be 70 years while other academic and non-academic staff shall be 65 years.

But in his observations during debate on the report, the Member representing Guyuk constituency, Hon. Sunday Peter who cited Section 39 (5a) of the house standing order said that the findings number 1 to 6 of the committee are not supposed to be included in the report because the petitioners are not challenging the reappointment of the Provost.

Hon. Peter observed that the report contains some allegations that were not captured in the petition, urging that if there are mismanagement of funds in the College, there should be an appendix or evidence that has to do with financial mismanagement attached to the report like that of the age so as to back their report.

According to him, the concerned citizens of Gombi and Hong Local Government Areas who filed the petition are not challenging the age or qualifications of the Provost and that if they are talking about mismanagement, there is no document to back the report and that the Provost cannot be the only one involved because there are other principal officers like the Registrar and the Bursar.

He pointed out that the report is not detailed enough that would lead to the removal of the Provost because the house is not adopting the petition but the report of house committee.

Also speaking, Hon. Umar Hammajoda Farang (Jada Mbulo) said that all the allegations were mentioned in the petition and properly addressed to the Speaker, adding that when the petition was referred to their committee, the committee members  invited the Provost and those involved and deliberated on it item by item and that the Provost admitted to all the allegations.

On his part, Hon. Abubakar Isa (Shelleng constituency) told his colleagues that the findings of the committee were strong enough that would lead to the termination of the appointment of the Provost saying that the Bursar and other principal officers should be made to refund the money embezzled.

After contributions from the honourable members, the Speaker Hon. KAbiru Mijinyawa who presided over the resumed plenary session directed the Clerk of the house to communicate the resolutions of the house to the Executive arm for necessary action.