Achievers University Uncovers N457m School Fees Fraud Involving Staff, Students

Achievers University has uncovered an alleged school fees fraud totalling N457.5 million following an internal audit of students’ payments across multiple academic sessions.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor, Oyesoji Aremu, disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday, saying the audit exercise was concluded on Friday.

According to the university, the fraud allegedly involved a former female staff member in the bursary department who is accused of hacking the institution’s payment portal and diverting students’ fees into her personal bank account.

The institution said 320 students allegedly paid a total of N457,508,645 into the suspect’s account across the 2023/2024, 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic sessions, while their records were fraudulently cleared on the university portal without remittance to the school.

It explained that the suspect, an alumna of the Accounting Department who later worked in the bursary unit, resigned from the institution in April 2025.

According to the statement, several students were allegedly lured into paying into the personal account with promises of discounted fees and commissions.

The audit also revealed that 11 staff members, 34 students and one external collaborator allegedly linked to a Federal Medical Centre acted as agents by recruiting students into the scheme.

Aremu said affected students, including those identified as agents, would appear before the Students’ Disciplinary Committee to explain their involvement and why they bypassed official payment procedures.

He added that implicated staff members would be subjected to the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee, while the alleged mastermind is currently under police investigation and may face prosecution.

The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that the university would continue auditing fee payments made by students who graduated within the last two academic sessions.

He said the governing council had approved full transparency in handling the investigation and communicating updates to the university community to curb misinformation.