By Solomon Odeniyi
SOME students of the Osun State College of
Health Technology, Ilesa, have been alleged
of defrauding fellow students of their school fees, thereby denying the authority of maximum revenue generation.
It was gathered that the suspects do approach fresh and returning students, who want to pay school fees with a promise to help facilitate the payment at the bank and having collected the money, they returned with a stamped bank teller to the unsuspecting victims.
Findings showed that many of the victims, after collecting the bank tellers given to them would proceed to the bursary department for presentation, only to find out that they have brought fake teller.
Most of those alleged to be involved in the fraud scheme were said to be students of Health Information Department with four major coordinators while others are just mules.
OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the school account is domiciled with the state government owned bank, where the suspects allegedly picked tellers with which the unsuspecting students were duped.
However, one of the suspects, who felt cheated with the share of the crime proceed given to him, reportedly leaked the secret to a student who had already given his money to another agent for payment.
After his money was refunded, the matter was reportedto the school authority, which later sought its statement of account from the bank.
Having discovered that many students did not remit their fees into the account, the management pasted the names of affected students to know their status.
However, the students could not volunteer information for fear of being hunted by the school authority, as many of them believe they are still within the reach of the authority, especially with regards to their results and certificate.
But one of the affected students, John Odedirandisclosed to OSUN DEFENDER that about 200 students have been defrauded which could amounts to N26 million by estimation.
Odediran said he had already been on practical work before his name was listed among those who were said not to have paid school fees.
Another student who pleaded anonymity disclosed that many students had gone to report the matter at a police station in Ilesa, where one of the suspects, OlaniranOlaniyi, reached an agreement with the victims to refund their monies gradually.
It was also gathered that when the said Olaniyi was accosted by a parent to return the money he collected, he demanded the name of the student, saying the student could be one of those he had returned half of their monies.
A parent whose child victim of the scam, Mr KayodeFolorunsho, said “What baffles me most is how the school changed the tellers into a receipt without detecting the fraud and for years, the syndicates had been perpetrating the illegality.
“My concern is, if the school is not bothered about the situation, government should help look into the matter with a view to bringing the suspects to justice, to deter others from perpetrating similar act in the future.”
Speaking on the matter, a former student of the school, Mr Aderibigbe Simiyu, said he was aware of the scandal, alleging the school management of being lackadaisical on it.
Simiyu said: “The students are afraid to come out and tell you their plight because of what the school might do in respect of their results at the end of their study. How would some students be duping their colleagues and the school management is aware without taking any step?
“The authority refused to set up a panel to investigate the matter until the affected students reported the case to the police, yet no attempt was made to investigate the fraud.
“Even after discovering that the fees were not paid into the school account and despite that school receipts were issued after presentation by the bursary department, the authority is not moved to find out how the syndicate perpetrated their activities.”
However, when contacted for reaction, the Provost, Dr. Fritz F. Olaoye denied knowledge of any act of illegality going on in the school.
He, however, added that the school does not engage the service of a third party to collect its fees from students, saying that it gave specific instructions to students on how to pay tuition and other fees.
Olaoye said: “I was not aware of what you’re saying. However, if there is any Niyi who is said to have collected money from somebody, I believe he did not do it on behalf of the school. What the school did was to give admission and give people where they will pay fees and other as directed by the government. All the school needs is to verify if they have paid the fees. If they have not paid the fees, the school will need to tell them to go and pay.
“What I am saying is that I am not aware of this, but I will make sure I go to the bursary department to know if anything of sort has happened.”
