ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, has uncovered an alleged N457.5m school fees fraud involving members of staff and students following the completion of its Students’ Fees Payment Audit Exercise on Friday.
The institution said investigations revealed that some staff and students manipulated the university’s payment system by hacking the students’ payment portal and diverting school fees payments into the personal bank account of a female employee.
The acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oyesoji Aremu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Monday.
According to the statement, the audit exercise required all students to appear before an investigative panel because the alleged fraud spanned the 2023/2024, 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic sessions.
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The statement read in parts, “The exercise has revealed that the fraud was masterminded by a female worker, an alumnus of the Department of Accounting of our university, who was later employed to work at the university bursary. She resigned from the services of the university in April 2025.
“The fraudulent activities affected three academic sections: 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 Academic Sessions and 320 students paid a total sum of N457,508,645:00 school fees into the personal account of the said lady, who in turn fraudulently cleared such students on the portal without the university receiving the money. Many of the students were lured to pay into her account by the offer of discounted fees/ commission.
“Eleven members of staff and 34 students were used as agents of the said female worker to ‘recruit’ students for the fraudulent activities. One external person working at Federal Medical Centre Owo was also indicted as having served as an agent of the fraudulent activities.”
Aremu stated that all 320 affected students, including six students accused of acting as agents, would appear before the students disciplinary committee to explain why they ignored the institution’s approved payment procedures.
He also said the 11 staff members implicated in the scheme would face the senior staff disciplinary committee, while the alleged mastermind is currently under police investigation for possible prosecution.
The vice-chancellor further disclosed that the university would continue the audit exercise by reviewing fees payments made by students who graduated within the last two academic sessions.
“We have the approval of Council to exhibit absolute transparency in handling the investigation and dissemination of information to the university community, so as to eliminate rumor mongering and misinformation,” the statement concluded.