The chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Rivers State chapter, Sir Lucky Nkpogene, is enmeshed in a financial scandal that is currently tearing the union apart.
He is alleged to have embezzled over nine hundred million naira N900,000,000 belonging to the union.
According to sources, the Ogoni-born Rivers State NUT chairman collects N1800 monthly dues from the over 35,000 teachers in the state, which in one year amounts to about seven hundred and fifty-six million naira N756,000,00 and another N3000 annual levy from the teachers, which also amounts to about one hundred and five million naira N105,000,000.
According to the sources who are also teachers, Sir Nkpogene inherited over N32 million from his predecessor and has not, since taking over the leadership of the union, given an account of what he did with the money.
One of the sources lamented: ‘Sir Nkpogene does not tell us what he is doing with our money even though we all are supposed to have equal stake in it. “He goes about doing whatever he likes because he believes that nobody can challenge him. Do you know that until now, we don’t know what he did with the N32 million our former chairman, Comrade Geoffrey, handed over to him?
“He goes about doing whatever he likes because he believes that nobody can challenge him. Do you know that until now, we don’t know what he did with the N32 million our former chairman, Comrade Geoffrey, handed over to him?
“We were all witnesses to these things. He said he built a secretariat for the union with millions of naira but do you know that what he quoted was not what he spent?
“He spent far less and went and used poor quality materials to build for us and now the building has collapsed. He is just playing with all of our heads, doing what he likes because he feels that nobody can challenge him.”
When asked whether the teachers complained about the substandard materials used for the building, the source said: “Yes, we did complain and even wrote a petition to our national officers.
“They said they were coming to see the building but to our greatest surprise, they didn’t come. We later heard that Sir Nkpogene bribed them not to come.”
The sources also accused Sir Nkpogene of using the union’s money to build a church for the Assemblies of God mission in his village in Khana Local Government Area, wondering how he got the money to build the church if not from their union’s purse.
Another source complained: “Sir Nkpogene collected over four million naira as our union’s share from the N200 million that Governor Wike gave to NLC on Workers’ Day but uptil now, we have not seen the money.” We want him to give us an accurate account of what he is doing with our fund or vacate the office; if not, we will embark on a strike soon. The governor and the NLC should come to our aid before NUT Rivers State scatters.”
” We want him to give us an accurate account of what he is doing with our fund or vacate the office; if not, we will embark on a strike soon. The governor and the NLC should come to our aid before NUT Rivers State scatters.”
Efforts to reach Sir Lucky Nkpogene to respond to the allegations proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.
