5th October, 2011
The Lagos State Government says it has begun the prosecution of the culprits involved in the alleged N300 million scam rocking the Ministry of Education, saying that one other culprit has absconded.
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye disclosed that the alleged fraud was committed in the Education District IV.
She stated that the amount involved was not up to N300 million as being reported in the media but that the fraud took place about one and half years ago and that there was nothing new about it.
“It is not a new occurrence and it did not occur in the ministry but at Education District IV. The amount of money involved is not N300 million. The culprits have been fished out and they are facing trial,†she stated.
However, the commissioner refused to disclose the actual amount of money involved in the scandal.
It was reported on Monday that about N300 million fraud was uncovered in Lagos State Ministry of Education and that the alleged scam involved one of the state’s education districts where about N30 million public fund was allegedly diverted, on a monthly basis, into some personal accounts in the last 10 months.
It was gathered that the fraud was uncovered when a junior staff, precisely a cleaner, found in her account N150, 000 and raised alarm about how the money got there.
Frightened by the sudden increase in her account balance, she was said to have reported the case to a colleague who worked with the state Ministry of Justice.
A senior officer in the Ministry of Justice who got to know about the issue also tried to know the source of the money.
In the course of its investigation, the Ministry of Justice allegedly discovered that N30 million was being lodged in some private accounts since last year out of the funds approved by the state government to the six educational districts across the metropolis.
It was also alleged that some senior officers used the accounts of their subordinates without their knowledge to siphon the money, adding that the issue has ruffled feathers at the Ministry of Education.
Governor Babatunde Fashola is said to have set up an investigation panel to look into the financial misappropriation.
There were also reported cases where the accounts of some dead members of staff in the Ministry of Education were operated by some unidentified staff into which most of the siphoned funds are diverted.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Adeyemi Ibirogba was also quoted as saying that the government has zero tolerance for corruption and that government would soon make its position on the matter clear.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga