…More than 80 percent students write exam with fake school fees receipts
…Rector vows to fish out culprits
From: OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
It was a startling revelation, on Thursday, last week, when it was discovered that over 80 percent of students of Abia State polytechnic, Aba, who were taking their 1st semester examination entered the exam halls with fake school fees receipts.
This development led to the suspension of the 2016/2017 Ist Semester examination by the Rector of the institution, Prof. Friday Ezionye Eboh.
It was also discovered that the amount generated from the pay,ent exercise did not tally with the expectation of the school.
It was gathered that many of the students of the institution had been writing exams with fake school fees receipts until luck ran out on them last Thursday when personnel of the Bursary department discovered the anomaly.
According to a source, “It was while they were doing the verification with a particular machine that they discovered the fraud. They discovered that about 80% of the students writing exam have fake school fees receipts and this was immediately reported to the management who on Thursday ordered the suspension of the examination”.
Daily Sun investigation revealed that school fees receipt racketeering in Abia Poly was not a new development, but it had been a way of life among students who had no money or who misused their school fees.
According to a source, “Some students decided to indulge in the act because during exam, if any student is fished out for not paying his or her school fees, the student’s own is over, he will take the exam later as ‘carry over’. This made the students to look for alternative way to see themselves through out of the trouble.
Faking of Abia Ploy’s school fees receipts are reportedly carried out both within and outside the institution.
Our sources revealed that some cyber café operators outside the institution’s gate were neck deep in the racketeering of Abia Ploy school fees receipts.
This, he said, was done by printing out an original online school fees receipt paid by student ‘A’ for example, from a computer set and change the particulars including passport photograph, name, matriculation number and department to that of student ‘B’ who will just pay N500 and he gets his ‘school fees receipt’, as simple as that. The fake receipt will also display the amount paid which is N60, 250 for science courses and N56, 000 for business courses.
“The original receipts are stamped and signed at the bursary department. When the fake receipt is scanned at the cyber cafe, the stamp will be on it as a photocopy, but if you enter into the exam hall with it and you are asked about the original receipt, you simply tell them you left the original at home to avoid losing it. Those involved in this type of racketeering mainly operate from outside the institution”, said the source.
Already, the discovery reportedly led to the raiding of a cyber café where the fake receipts were allegedly printed, prompting the arrest of a worker at the café while the owner is said to be at large.
Daily Sun’s discreet investigation also revealed another source of fake school fees receipts in the school.
It was gathered that this has an insider connection and it is allegedly done by those in the bursary department. Some of the staff of the department it was alleged have their own receipts printed in the name of Abia poly.
“If you give them (the staff involved) between N25, 000 to N30, 000, they issue you with receipt of full payment of school fees that look like the institution’s official receipt, but the money goes to their pocket. They do not deal with anybody they see for fear of being implicated, but with those they term their customers”, another source began.
“At times, when a student goes to collect bank teller for the payment of school fees, some staff in the bursary department will fill in their personal account number on the bank teller instead of that of the school and when the students pay, the money will go into the staff’s account. And that tells you why some staff in that department are riding flashy cars; some of those riding such cars are on salary of N45, 000 in a month. There is the fear that there may be some collaboration with some bank staff who may be crediting the account without checking the account name. The student in most cases will be told a particular branch of the bank he will pay in the money”.
However, the bubble busted when one of the fake online receipts a studens was holding inside the examination hall which was said not to have been ‘professionally’ done, was detected by those on verification of school fees receipts and this led to the suspension of the exams by one week.
When contacted, ABIAPOLY public relations officer, Mrs. Maria Chinyere Ezeh, confirmed the suspension of exams in the school as a result of school fees receipts forgery.
Mrs. Ezeh said she was not aware of the involvement of any staff in the whole episode since no staff has been indicted or arrested.
“I don’t know about the involvement of any staff in the whole thing, all I know is that many students were caught in exam hall last week with fake school fees receipts and they will definitely say who gave them the fake receipts and until that is done I will not like to speculate but all I know is that the rector will get to the root of the whole matter. I don’t think he will spare any staff that will be involved in this scam,” she said.