Tuition fraud: Ex-female worker, students defraud Ondo varsity of N457m
Achievers University, located in Owo, Ondo State, has announced the completion of the Students’ Fees Payment Audit Exercise on Friday, which uncovered that certain staff members and students had defrauded the institution of N457,508,645.00.
The university reported that the individuals involved had breached the students’ payment portal and deceived 320 students into directing their fee payments to the personal accounts of a female employee, while the accused individuals settled their bills on the university's portal, allowing the students to receive their financial clearance.
The acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oyesoji Aremu, made this information public in a statement released to our correspondent on Monday.
The statement indicated that the completed exercise necessitated the appearance of every student before an investigative committee, as the fraudulent activities occurred during the 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 academic sessions.
The statement included, "The exercise has disclosed that the fraud was orchestrated by a female employee, an alumnus of the Department of Accounting at our university, who was subsequently hired to work at the university bursary. She resigned from her position at the university in April 2025.
"The fraudulent actions impacted three academic sessions: 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026, with 320 students transferring a total of N457,508,645.00 in school fees to the personal account of the aforementioned individual, who then illicitly cleared these students on the portal without the university receiving the funds. Numerous students were enticed to pay into her account by the promise of reduced fees or commission.
"A total of eleven staff members and 34 students acted as agents for the female employee to 'recruit' students for these fraudulent schemes. Additionally, one external individual employed at the Federal Medical Centre Owo was also implicated as having participated in these fraudulent activities.
