TheCable

Michael Alatise (pictured), bursar of the University of Ibadan, says the auditor hired to work on the university’s accounts became blind while working on them in 2008.

According to The Nation, Alatise said this when he appeared before the house of representatives committee on public accounts on Thursday.

He said the external auditor, whom he did not disclose his name, died in the process, thereby delaying completion of  the work.

But the committee, led by Oluwole Oke, was angered to hear the bursar’s claim, and ordered full investigation into the university’s financial status.

Oke, said: “That somebody went blind does not mean that the firm will go into extinction. It can’t,” Oke was quoted as saying.

He further said it is unacceptable that UI does not have an account with the auditor-general of the federation “from 2014 till date.”

“No! You won’t get money in the next budgetary allocation,” the lawmaker added.

Responding, Alatise said while the auditor’s blindness delayed the examination of the accounts, a new auditor employed has not been able to do the work because of some challenges.

“We had a new auditor; it was the new external auditor that was having problems,” he said.

“He had to go to his (old auditor’s) house several times because there were some static figures that needed to be cleared.”