Posted by Amarachi on Fri 26th Apr, 2024 - tori.ng
The human rights group said that the school where the funds were paid should be made to refund the money if any such incident was discovered.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to conduct a thorough probe on the accounts of all states to expose governors who were using state funds to pay their children’s tuition fees.
Making this call in a statement released on its official X handle, the human rights group said that the school where the funds were paid should be made to refund the money if any such incident was discovered.
“BREAKING: We urge EFCC and ICPC to probe the accounts of Nigeria’s 36 states and FCT to determine whether public funds are being used to pay school fees for the children of public officers and publish the findings. The schools involved should be made to return the money with interest,” the group’s statement read.
The group call comes amid unfolding developments in the fraud case against former Kogi governor Yahaya Bello.
TORI had earlier reported the release of a document that Yahaya Bello used in paying advance school fees for his family members.
Yahaya Bello reportedly paid school fees in advance for his family members and even those to be enrolled in future, with hundreds of thousands of dollars withdrawn from the Kogi State coffers.
Payment was also made for any future student to be enrolled by the family.
However, an emerging report disclosed that the school asked for an account where the state’s fund will be refunded to