The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has opened an investigation into an alleged fraud running into N 150m.
The alleged fraud was orchestrated by the management of Kwara State Scholarship Board.
Operatives of the EFCC have already interrogated officials of the board, including the Chairperson, Hajia Fatimoh Yusuf, Executive Secretary, Mr. Fatai Lamidi and the Board’s Accountant, Mr. Stephen Ajewole, among others.
A source within the board who spoke with www.theoctopusnews.com, in confidence revealed that the fraud was actually perpetrated between 2017 and 2018 when the Kwara State government released the said sum as bursary allowance for 10, 000 indigenes who were students in various tertiary institutions of the state.
However, only 6, 000 students were paid bursary while 4, 000 students allegedly failed to benefit from the bursary.
The source revealed that the 4, 000 students who were not paid subsequently alleged that their money had been converted to personal use.
Our source revealed that the fraud was carefully orchestrated such that names of the recipient were provided, but they never got their allocation.
In the course of investigations, the students who sighted their names, matriculation numbers and signature became very angry, insisting that their signatures were forged.
They claimed not to have been the original beneficiaries of the controversial bursary allowance despite their particulars on the scholarship board documents.
During interrogation, it was revealed only a handful of the students actually got paid, as opposed to the 10, 000 students reported to have been paid.
With the investigation ongoing, heads are expected to roll in the scholarship board, with management staffs expected to be persecuted if found guilty.
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