14th November, 2023
An undercover agent says the current administration of the Lagos State University (LASU) under Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello has nothing to hide in the certificate racketeering that has rocked the institution.
According to a statement signed by the General Manager of Wealthroot company, Benedict Okohnma, LASU had long ago had arrangements with an organisation, Wealthroot, under the immediate past administration and commissioned the company to act as an undercover agent to unravel the syndicates that were perpetrating the satanic act of manipulating the university server and fraudulently imputing records of non-graduates as the students of the institution after a concerned and respected alumnus of the university brought a case of such incident to the notice of the university management.
The statement revealed that the crime in question was only committed through the university’s external system otherwise known as satellite campuses.
“It is very important to state it clearly that this crime and the manipulation has nothing to do with the full-time regular undergraduate academic programmes of the institution,” the statement added.
According to the statement, further findings revealed the fact that members of these syndicates had worked at the university’s external systems at one point or another and thereby capitalized on the rush associated with the desire of the University to wind up the External System and clear the backlog of yet to be graduated students of various external centres (otherwise known as part-time students) at that time.
“Wealthroot, as a company had an understanding with the university with the mandate to understudy the mode of operations of the syndicates, understudy the process of recruiting their clients, all administrative and academic process taken by the syndicates to the point of clearance which requires to be done in person, work with security agents to wrap up the syndicates no matter their status or any level of external connection,” the statement added.
It also stated that the university expressed its desire for a thorough job and that this would naturally take a longer time in order for the company to gather undeniable evidence against the culprits.
“It is also worthy of note and should be placed on records that the university brought in the DSS to support the investigation with the university security guards as the operations lasted. The company was also charged to recommend measures to prevent such from further happening in the institution and submit findings to the university,
“As at the time the online media reported the matter, final reports were yet to be submitted to the university by the company but LASU management was always updated on the progress of findings before the assumption of office of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor and the same updates have been ongoing upon the assumption of the current Management.
“It must be placed on record that we also observed that the University under the current Vice Chancellor has recently put in place some measures to fortify the certificate collection process in the university,” the statement explained.
“In conclusion, the current management under the leadership of Professor Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello, neither covered the matter nor shielded the alleged members of staff. The management is carrying out her obligation of understanding between the university and WEALTHROOT and necessary support to the company and other agencies involved in the operations while the investigation is ongoing,” it added.