Delta State Students Protest Non-Prosecution Of Bursary Scam In UNILAG

Students from the Delta State extract at University of Lagos (UNILAG) protested today in front of the institution’s gate in a loud, though peaceful gathering. They were protesting a financial scam they say continues in their bursary, and is led by the personnel of the Commission for Higher Education in their State.

The students, mostly members of the National Association of Delta State Students Union (NADESSTU) had accused bursary officials of theft and fraud, pointing out that fake names were generated as the beneficiaries of the bursary at their school in UNILAG.

They addressed what they say is the wide use of fake names by the bursary in a complex motion of financial fraud that is also perpetrated at other institutions across the federation. The protesters said that Mr. Hope Eghagha, the Commissioner for Higher Education in Delta State, is in a highly questionable and fraudulent association with a software firm he introduced upon his assumption of the high office sometime in 2009. They said that Eghagha and the software firm had generated hundreds of fake names, which the universities had later proven as non-existent through their records. The questionable arrangement then led to a scheme to siphon from the bursaries millions of naira, while denying genuine students the financial benefits.

In an earlier petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC,) the students had connected the roles of bank officials with those of personnel at the office of Mr. Hope Eghagha to perpetrate the fraud. During the course of an earlier investigation, Mr. Eghagha had been detained by the EFCC, as well as some members of the board in his office. He was released soon afterwards in what some students have allege as the ‘greasing the palm’ of investigators at the EFCC.

One leader of the protesting students, Mr. Ambrose Ezenweani, told Saharareporters that more than N2billion was released annually by the board, a shocking amount. Yet the funds do not reach the genuine students, many in financial need, and the missing money is then diverted to the fake generated names by the board itself.

In another petition written last week to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Ibrahim, the students accused him of scuttling on-going investigations by men from the Special Fraud Units (SFU.) There is a sudden slow-down in procedure, the students said, whenever the Governor of Delta State, Mr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, contacts Ibrahim by phone with the result being a hindering to the process.

 NADESSTU said it was the second time the Police Inspector General (IG) had botch investigations in the matter based on order of the State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan. At their protest today, the students said they were still waiting for a response from the Police IG to their allegations.

Other students taking part in the protest told SaharaReporters their rally today was only a “warning protest” against the continued non-investigation of the crimes. Another warned that more serious actions would follow if a proper investigation is not conducted into the massive  fraud. Their demands today included returning the siphoned bursaries to the genuine students, and bringing those they named, and others who perpetrated the fraud through office of Mr. Hope Eghagha, to justice.