Senate panel probes alleged fraud in scholarship board

Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC Kano North) has disclosed that the committee would investigate activities of Federal Scholarship Board over what he called large-scale fraud.

He stated this during 2018 budget defence session management of the agency had with the committee.

Barau who was virtually unhappy with the presentation of the Director/Secretary of the board, Mrs. Fatima Jiddum Ahmad, alleged that some elements were circumventing things at the board in the guise of scholarships for students abroad, to defraud government.

“I assure you we are going to investigate your activities to fish out those behind scholarships fraud.

‘’It’s obvious to all of us that there is massive fraud in millions of naira going on there and we are not going to relent until we unravel those behind the act, he declared.

Also, a member of the Committee, Senator Foster Ogola wondered how an undergraduate student studying abroad was allegedly awarded N200 million as scholarship for a year.

He noted that something must be wrong for scholarship board to be awarding between N160 to N200 million scholarships to students schooling abroad, saying the development would put pressure on the budget.

“How can students schooling abroad be given between N160 to N200 million each as scholarships?”

“I am sure, there are some people who are benefiting illegally, he posited.’’