Whistleblowers Inside Federal Polytechnic Bida Say Results Were Sold For Years And National Diploma Records Altered For NYSC Mobilisation At N100,000 A Head, While The School Sacrificed Two Junior Staff And Shielded Its Own

Whistleblowers inside the Federal Polytechnic Bida in Niger State have spoken out against what they describe as years of injustice, corruption and oppression inside the institution, a results racket in which academic results were traded for cash, National Diploma records were altered to qualify their holders for National Youth Service Corps mobilisation, and the money moved through the personal accounts of officers, while the school, when the scandal surfaced, crushed the two most junior people in the chain and shielded its own.

The whistleblowers say the practices existed inside the polytechnic’s certificate and results-processing environment long before the two employees at the centre of the disciplinary process held permanent appointments, and a SecretsReporters review of the accounts given by those inside the institution shows activities spanning several years reduced in the end to the alleged misconduct of the two newest staff in the chain, one whose appointment was terminated and one who was dismissed outright.

Results For Sale

Sources describe a results-processing environment in which students paid unofficial charges for academic results and related services, with amounts reportedly reaching N40,000 to N70,000 against official charges put at approximately N31,000, and payments allegedly collected and retained outside the polytechnic’s recognised revenue channels.

The alleged irregularities run through the whole life of an academic result inside the institution, the printing of results, their authentication, signing and stamping, and their release, with different personnel facilitating access to academic records at different points, and alleged backdating and other questionable document-processing practices carried on inside the same environment.

National Diploma Results Altered For NYSC Mobilisation

The gravest allegation the whistleblowers carry concerns National Diploma results. Individuals whose original academic results did not qualify them for mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps allegedly had their results altered or adjusted after the original approval of those results until the records met the conditions for mobilisation.

Beneficiaries of the arrangements were allegedly charged amounts reaching N100,000 for a single alteration. The whistleblowers say the allegation can be tested against the institution’s own paper trail, by examining original departmental result records against subsequently amended records, identifying students whose academic standing changed after results were approved, and comparing departmental records with examination board decisions and the records submitted for NYSC mobilisation.

The Money Trail

Payments for the alleged results arrangements and other unofficial services were allegedly received through personal financial accounts, including OPay accounts associated with officers involved, rather than through the polytechnic’s accounts. The sources say the inflows into those personal accounts have never been reconciled against legitimate institutional transactions, and that the financial questions, who collected the money, where it went and who benefited, were not comprehensively pursued before responsibility was assigned to the two junior employees.

The Shielded And The Sacrificed

One of the affected employees told SecretsReporters that several other individuals implicated or identified in the course of the investigation were shielded by influential persons within the institution, and that the inquiry concentrated on the two junior employees while the roles of those individuals were not subjected to the same scrutiny.

The sources say no record has been produced showing that the parts played by the other implicated officers were independently examined, that the individuals who facilitated the alleged activities were traced, or that those who may have benefited financially from them were identified, and responsibility was in the end concentrated entirely on the two junior employees.

The Written Defence That Was Never Answered

The same employee alleges that material parts of the written defence submitted in answer to the official query issued in the matter were suppressed, distorted or not properly considered by the committee that heard the case, and that the committee’s findings and the Council decision that followed do not answer the explanations the defence placed on record.

The employee holds the query, the written response, suspension correspondence and documents relating to the appearance before the Council committee, and says the complete committee investigative report has never been made available, so that how the committee weighed the defence against its conclusions cannot be checked from any document the affected staff have been allowed to see.

The affected employee who spoke to SecretsReporters accepts that the employee’s own role is open to scrutiny, and maintains that accountability inside the institution has to reach every person whose conduct warrants investigation, regardless of position, influence or length of service.

No published account from the polytechnic establishes whether the alleged practices stopped when the two employees were removed, and until the departmental records, the committee report and the money trail are examined, the credibility of the National Diploma qualifications issued over the period and of the NYSC mobilisations built on them stands on records that whistleblowers inside the institution itself say were for sale.

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