On October 26, 2023, Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman and the former chairman of Forte Oil, was inaugurated Chancellor of Augustine University (AUI), an institution owned by the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Lagos, in Ilara Epe.
At the inauguration, Otedola announced a donation of N1 million each to the 500 returning students and the 250 newly admitted students of AUI. He said the N750 million was to assist each student in paying the school fees for the 2023/2024 academic session.
“I hereby announce a scholarship donation to each returning student of the University and each new first-year student, the amount of one million naira towards the 2023/2024 session school fees of each of them,” Otedola said.
“I am told that there are 500 returning students and about 250 new first-year students making a total scholarship donation of N750 million. I hope this donation assists the plight of the parents of our students in this difficult time.”
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Following his pledge at the ceremony, he also shared a post on his X page where he reaffirmed his commitment to the institution and its students.
Today, I was inaugurated as the Chancellor of Augustine University. I strongly believe in transforming establishments that I am associated with. I gave a gift of One Million to each of the Seven Hundred and Fifty Students. I hope this donation of Seven Hundred and Fifty Million… pic.twitter.com/uaz5eVhMci— Femi Ote$ (@realFemiOtedola) October 26, 2023
“Today, I was inaugurated as the Chancellor of Augustine University. I strongly believe in transforming establishments that I am associated with. I gave a gift of one million naira to each of the seven hundred and fifty students. I hope this donation of seven hundred and fifty million naira assists the plight of the parents of our students in this difficult time,” he wrote.
However, this donation marked the beginning of a dispute between Pelumi Owenna (a parent of the school who asked for his real name to be withheld) and the management of Augustine University.
Owenna told FIJ that the management of AUI refused to distribute the donation as directed by the donor and also refused to disburse to his daughter, an ex-Year 2 student of the institution, her share of the donation.
He further explained that the institution only disbursed the donation to Year 3 and 4 students of the university in February, four months after the pledge was made. He added that this subset of students has the least population in the university, as the Year 1 and 2 students were excluded from it.
“AUI has been acting funny in administering the funds donated by Otedola. First, it was them disbursing the money to senior students and excluding the junior ones,” he told FIJ.
“If the donation was not meant to be a gift to the students, why were these set of students given cash as their portion of the donation in early February? This is a population of students who were not even up to 30% of the student population. Maybe they felt it was easy to do away with the bulk of the money.”
He also told FIJ that, after he contacted the school, Christopher Odetunde, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of AUI, said his daughter was not eligible for the donation after she absconded from the school and also failed to uphold the good moral standing of the school.
“Another surprising thing is the school saying that my daughter can’t get her share of the donation because she absconded from AUI. This was a student who left the school seven months after the donation was announced,” he said.
“Also, there is never a bad record about her from the school. Labelling such a student with bad character is callous, primitive and sheer wickedness.
“It is shameful for the VC to start disparaging my daughter for not being of good character because he wants to hold onto the donation funds unjustifiably.”
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‘HIS DAUGHTER ABSCONDED’ — AUGUSTINE UNIVERSITY VC
Professor Odetunde denied the accuracy of Owenna’s story via an email to FIJ on Tuesday. He said that Otedola’s gift to the institution was a scholarship for students of the school enrolled in the 2023/2024 academic session and that the donor had defined criteria for being a beneficiary.
He further explained that Owenna’s daughter defaulted on these two criteria because she failed to meet the academic requirements for the 2023/2024 academic session and on the grounds of good character and conduct by absconding from the university without notice.
“Mr Otedola’s donation to AUI students was not a mere “gift” as he has repeatedly claimed in his previous emails to Augustine University,” the vice chancellor told FIJ.
“The gift was specifically for scholarships to students enrolled in the university for the 2023/2024 academic session. The donor unequivocally stated this intention in his speech at the convocation ceremony of the university in October 2023.
“In universities around the world, benefitting from a scholarship is contingent upon two distinct requirements, namely: good academic performance, by attending lectures, submitting assignments, sitting for all examinations and of course passing examinations; and good behaviour and character.
“But Mr [Owenna]’s daughter failed to meet these criteria. First, by transferring to another foreign institution at the end of the first semester, not registering for any course in the second semester, not attending lectures, and not sitting for any examination in the second semester, she failed to meet the academic requirements for the 2023/2024 academic session.
“And lastly by not duly informing the university that she had withdrawn, which amounts to absconding. This means she failed to meet the requirement of good character and conduct.”
The vice chancellor also said that the money donated by Otedola arrived in tranches and that was why the 300 and 400 level students received theirs first.
“No student who met the two requirements of good academic performance, and good character and completed the 2023/2024 academic session was excluded,” he said.
“What is true, but which Mr. Owenna does not know, is that the funds came to Augustine University in tranches and were only disbursed when the tranches arrived beginning with students in 300 and 400 levels.
“He has been advised to appeal to the Governing Council, to the Board of Trustees, and to the donor if he is not satisfied with the decision of Management of Augustine University.”
“AUGUSTINE UNIVERSITY LIED” – OWENNA
When FIJ showed Owenna the response from Odetunde and Augustine University, he said on Tuesday that AUI was not truthful.
He added that his daughter was still a bona fide student of the institution from when the donation was made until the first tranche was given to the 300 and 400 level students.
“From the time the donation was made in October 2023 till it was disbursed as cash to Year 3 and 4 students in February 2024, my daughter was a bonafide student of the institution with a first-class Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA),” he wrote.
“Since Year 3 students had more than two semesters to graduate from the school when the money was disbursed. Why were they given cash and why was the money not applied to their Year 4 tuition fees?
“Moreover, it is shameful for the vice-chancellor to start disparaging my daughter for not being of good character because he wants to hold onto the donation funds unjustifiably. This is the second time he’s towing that line. If I see any further communication from him with this type of message, I will take legal action for defamation.”
Owenna said his family’s decision for his daughter to stop schooling at AUI was premised on the rising insecurity in Nigeria. The VC was wrong to have claimed his daughter was of bad character by simply switching schools, he stated.
“My family decided that we would not allow our daughter to return to the school in Nigeria because we reside outside the country. Our decision was influenced by the spate of kidnappings in the country,” Owenna said.
“In May, we applied to schools and since a transcript is part of the requirement to apply for admissions, we requested and paid for her transcript from Augustine University.
“The interval between the time the donation was made and when my daughter left the school was seven months.
“Also, how does switching from one university to another qualify someone to be labelled as having a bad character? Since she joined the university in October 2022, was there ever a disciplinary action against her? Any bad records? Augustine University is 100% boarding school, was there any record of absenteeism against her?
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“The only record of her is the award she received as a first class student during the graduation ceremony in February 2024. Labelling such a student with bad character is callous, primitive and sheer wickedness.
“The VC mentioned in his previous communication to me on August 14 that the reason for not releasing the fund was because my daughter left the school last December and that she was not a student when the Year 3 and 4 students were given cash as their portion of the donation.
“However, since I have now shown them incontrovertible evidence that this position was not true, that my daughter was a bonafide student till the end of the semester in February. He has now shifted the goalpost to say that it was because she never came back for the second semester. No consistency whatsoever.
“If the school cannot deny the fact that N1 million cash was given to each Year 3 and 4 student six months ago as their portion of the donation and that the school cannot also deny that as at the time of this disbursement, my daughter was a bona fide student of AUI, then she deserves to have her portion and the same with every other one of the 750 students who were given the gift donation.”
The post Augustine Uni Management, Parent Argue Over Child’s N1m From Otedola’s N750m Gift appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.