The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ilorin Zonal Office, has commenced investigation into allegation of N150 million bursary fraud against some management staff of the Kwara State Scholarship Board.
Those affected included the chairperson of State Scholarship Board, Hajia Fatimoh Yusuf, the Executive Secretary of the board, Mr Fatai Lamidi and the board’s accountant, Mr Stephen Ajewole, among others.
It was gathered that the Kwara State Government in 2017 and 2018 released N150m as bursary allowances for 10,000 students who are indigenes of the state in various tertiary institutions.
The commission received a petition that the board did not pay up to 4,000 but allegedly converted the remaining funds to personal use.
The petitioners who were students in some various higher institutions of learning had alleged that their names appeared as beneficiaries of bursary allowances at the board, but that they never received the money.
During interrogation with EFCC operatives, the students who sighted their names, matriculation numbers and signatures, were said to have become angry and said their signatures were forged.
They denied being the original beneficiaries of the controversial bursary allowance despite the fact that their particulars were on the scholarship board documents.
Although officials of the board had earlier told the operatives of the anti-graft body that the students were issued cheques, the commission said it discovered that only few beneficiaries were given cash.
