EFCC Investigates Kwara Scholarship Board Over Alleged diversion Of N150m Students’ Bursary Fund

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has begun investigations into allegation of one hundred and fifty million ( N150 million)  bursary fraud against some management staff of Kwara State Scholarship Board.

As part of the investigation, EFCC operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Office interrogated officials of the Board, including the Chairperson, Fatimah Yusuf, the Executive Secretary; Fatai Lamidi and the Board’s Accountant, Stephen Ajewole.

It was gathered that the Kwara State Government in 2017 and 2018 released the sum of N150 million as bursary allowance for 10,000 students in various tertiary institutions who are indigenes of the state.

However, the Commission gathered that the board did not pay up to 4,000 Students but fraudulently converted the balance to personal use.

The Commission discovered that names of students in various higher institutions of learning allegedly appeared as beneficiaries of bursary allowances at the Kwara State Scholarship Board but never received the money.

In the course of the investigation, the students who sighted their names, matriculation numbers and signature became very angry, insisting that their signatures were forged.

They claimed not to have been the original beneficiaries of the controversial bursary allowance despite their particulars on the scholarship board documents.

The officials of the board had earlier told the operatives of the anti-graft body that the students were issued cheques but the EFCC discovered that only a few beneficiaries received cash payment.