Guardian Ogun discovers N231m fraud in ministry WEDNESDAY, 28 AUGUST 2013 00:00 FROM CHARLES COFFIE-GYAMFI (ABEOKUTA) NEWS - NATIONAL Amosun-OK- A N231 million fraud has been discovered in the Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The fraud, which has been perpetrated for about three years now, involved some officials in the ministry in connivance with some principals of public secondary schools. The avenue the suspects used to fraudulently drain the government purse was the payment of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) fees by government. The government, as part of its free education policy, pays WASSCE fees yearly for all final year students in public secondary schools. But the suspected principals and their collaborators in the ministry dubiously inflate the number of their students to enable them collect the excess amount after the government has paid the total amount. Based on a tip-off, the government set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the issue and recommend appropriate sanctions to prevent recurrence. The Panel Chairman, Abdul-Fatai Opebiyi, told reporters in Abeokuta yesterday that a total of 3,571 “external candidates” were discovered to have been fraudulently added to the list of the legitimate students. The panel chairman added that apart from the amount discovered, various sums of money were also found to have been held illegally by certain officials of the ministry. Opebiyi, who is the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, explained that the panel had recommended appropriate sanctions against culpable officials and suggested ways of preventing future occurrences. Responding, the Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle, congratulated the panel members for the successful completion of the assignment and expressed optimism that their recommendations would be adopted to the letter.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 07:48:03 +0000
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