By Alhaji Haruna Sani
The University Court has officially adopted and approved the recommendations of the University Investigation Committee’s report, presented on 30 January 2025.
The report exposes widespread administrative, financial, and procurement irregularities at the University of Sierra Leone (USL) between 2021 and 2023.
The University of Sierra Leone, which includes Fourah Bay College (FBC), the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), has been at the center of a growing governance crisis and the current revelations raise serious concerns about accountability, transparency, and financial oversight within one of Sierra Leone’s most prestigious higher education institutions.
The investigation revealed a failure to submit complete and audited financial statements for the years 2021 to 2023, in direct violation of the Universities Act (2021). Financial records displayed inconsistent documentation, unexplained discrepancies in income and expenditure, and an alarming NLe 6.5 billion unaccounted for.
Among the most glaring irregularities was the unauthorized purchase of a vehicle for the Vice-Chancellor and Principal at a cost of $126,000, in addition to other questionable expenditures amounting to millions of Leones.
The procurement processes were perforated with non-compliance with National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) regulations, including unauthorized purchases and blatant conflicts of interest involving the Business Centre at IPAM, which simultaneously operated as a supplier and procurement facilitator.
The poor implementation of the SAGE 300 accounting system—a result of inadequate staff training—further compounded financial mismanagement, leading to inaccurate financial reporting and weak internal controls.
The investigation also uncovered serious human resource mismanagement, characterized by inconsistent recruitment practices, absence of formal job descriptions, and lack of structured performance appraisals. Those lapses were exacerbated by unstructured handover processes during leadership transitions, contributing to operational inefficiencies.
A critical finding involved the mismanagement of research grants, with certain administrators refusing to provide data on grants amounting to millions of dollars.
To address those systemic issues, the Investigation Committee proposed several corrective measures, including immediate finalization and submission of audited financial statements for 2021–2023, independent forensic audit into the unaccounted Le 6.5 billion and other financial discrepancies.
Reconstitution of functional audit and procurement committees for effective oversight, strengthening coordination between USL’s central administration and campuses to address operational inefficiencies and an introduction of a Quality Management System to ensure effective implementation of USL policies among others.
