President Bola Tinubu fired Sani Auwal Balarabe as the chief of the Intercountry Centre for Oral Health for Africa amid allegations of corruption that the ICOH head embezzled N1.4 billion.
The president, who sacked Mr Balarabe on July 18, has named Taiwo Olaniyi to replace his corruption-tainted predecessor, albeit in an acting capacity.
In January, the House of Assembly, EFCC, Ministry of Health, and other government parastatals received a slew of petitions to investigate alleged financial misconduct at the ICOH under Mr Balarabe’s leadership.
The petition alleged that Mr Balarabe, throughout his yearslong tenure at the ICOH, did not conduct any research despite receiving hundreds of millions of naira.
“Despite all these budgetary allocations, the centre has refused to produce a single oral health research, which is the centre’s core mandate and the reason for its establishment,” the petition dated January 16 stated, which also stressed that projects commenced under Mr Balarabe’s leadership were allegedly never completed.
“Construction of remodelled dental clinic, construction of remodelled administration block, procurement of project vehicles,” according to the petition, cost the ICOH over N700 million,“ yet there isn’t anything to show for the money expended.”
Mr Balarabe allegedly backdated the letters of appointment for new staff and paid them salary arrears to cover for some of ICOH’s expenses, but the petition alleged he secretly asked the employees to “remit the money back” to a designated account.
