The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has begun
investigations into an allegation of N150 million bursary fraud
levelled against the board chairperson and some management staff of
the Kwara State Scholarship Board.
This information was contained in a statement, signed by the
media head of the commission, Mr Gbenga Adewoye and made available
to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Thursday.
It stated that those being interrogated by the operatives of the
commission on the case include, the aforementioned chairperson, the
executive secretary of the board and the board’s accountant, among
others.
The statement said the Kwara State Government in 2017 and 2018
released the sum of N150 million as bursary allowances for 10,000
students, who are indigenes of the state in various tertiary
Institutions.
Also, in the statement, the commission gathered that the board
did not pay up to 4,000 students and fraudulently converted the
remaining money to personal use.
“The petitioners, who are students in various higher
institutions of learning, had alleged that their names appeared as
beneficiaries of bursary allowances at the Kwara State Scholarship
Board but that they never received the money.
In the statement, during interrogation with the operatives of
the commission, the students alleged that the names and
matriculation numbers they submitted were correct but their
signatures were allegedly forged by the board.
“They claimed not to have been the original beneficiaries of the
controversial bursary allowance despite their particulars on the
scholarship board documents”.
It also stated that the officials of the board had earlier told
the operatives of the anti-graft body that the students were issued
cheques, but the commission discovered that only a few
beneficiaries were given cash.
As at the time of filing in this report, the officials of the
board are still being interrogated by the operatives of the
commission. (NAN)
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