Abuja American school has refunded $760k of Yahaya Bello’s children fees – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the American International School Abuja (AISA) has refunded the fees paid by the immediate past governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, for his children attending the school.

LIB had earlier reported that the chairman of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, held a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, April 23 where he revealed that the former governor paid $760,910 in advance as fees for five of his children from the coffers of the Kogi state government. Following the revelation, the school released a statement promising to refund the fees to the EFCC.

In response to a letter addressed to the Lagos zonal commander of the EFCC, the school said $845,852 was paid in tuition “since the 7th of September 2021 to date”.

AISA said the sum to be refunded is $760,910 because it had deducted educational services already rendered.

“Please forward to us an official written request, with the authentic banking details of the EFCC, for the refund of the above-mentioned funds as previously indicated as part of your investigation into the alleged money laundering activities by the Bello family.

Since the 7th September 2021 to date, $845,852.84 (Eight Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Two US Dollars and eighty four cents) in tuition and other fees has been deposited into our Bank account.

We have calculated the net amount to be transferred and refunded to the State, after deducting the educational services rendered as $760,910.84. (Seven Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ten US Dollars and Eighty Four cents).

No further additional fees are expected in respect of tuition as the students’ fees have now been settled until they graduate from ASIA.”

In a chat with The Cable, the spokesperson of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, confirmed that the school has refunded the money.

‘’The money has been paid into public account,” Dele Oyewale was quoted as saying.

Abuja American school has refunded $760k of Yahaya Bello’s children fees – EFCC

Gov. Zulum approves employment of 15 persons with disabilities

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has approved the automatic employment of 15 persons living with disability, who have undergone formal educational system and obtained degree certificates, NCE, diploma and vocational training certificates.

The governor gave the approval in Maiduguri on Saturday at the Government House when he met with members of Association of People Living with Disability.

“I am delighted to note that despite your disability, you people are not lazy; you decided to pursue your education, and for this, I want to commend you.

“I directed the Commissioner of Education to process your application for employment for my approval immediately. Therefore, I want to bring to your kind notice that you should be on the payroll of Borno Government effective 1st May, 2024,”he said.

The Governor directed the commissioner of education, Lawan Abba-Wakilbe to review the activities of all the blind schools in Borno in order to train more people with disabilities.

Zulum also ordered the Ministry of Education to work out modalities for introducing the teaching of special education courses at the College of Education in Bama.

“I am happy that they have obtained their qualifications in different specialisations. Let’s strengthen the College of Education in Bama to start delivering courses on special education,” Zulum said.

Earlier, Alhaji Muhammed Mustapha, Borno Branch Chairman of the Nigerian Association of the Blind, expressed gratitude to Zulum for approving employment for his members.

Mustapha thank him for prioritising efforts toward uplifting the living standards of such persons in the society.

Gov. Zulum approves employment of 15 persons with disabilities

UTME: JAMB to refund registration fees to deserving visually-impaired candidates 

Prof. Olarenwaju Fagbohun, Lagos Coordinator, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, says the board will refund fees paid by deserving visually-impaired candidates for the purchase of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME forms.

Olarenwaju, a former Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), gave the assurance at the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), University of Lagos, centre for 2024 UTME  for visually-impaired candidates from Lagos and Ogun states.

According to him, a total of 88 candidates in this category registered for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for the centre but  only 82 were present.

He explained that only visually-impaired candidates with five ‘O’ Level credits in one sitting  would  benefit.

The coordinator said that the gesture was to encourage physically-challenge candidates.

“I will like to give kudos to the  Registrar of JAMB,  Prof Is’haq Oloyede, for all he is doing to push the frontiers of education in this country.

“This year, he went a step further to return money paid by visually-challenged candidates for the purchase of their registration documents- those who scored five credits at one sitting.

“They were not supposed to have paid for the forms,  but in a situation whereby they have already done that, their money will be returned to them here,  today.

“The process is that the  board, from the results uploaded by these candidates during registration for the examination, had already disaggregated all these and sent to all the centre coordinators nationwide.

“We have the list and the money already made available by the board, and the directive is that we must ensure that the concerned candidates get back their money immediately.

“We want them to know that they are Nigerians and that Nigeria recognises their roles and will want to harness their potential,” he said.

Read Also: EFCC Declares Ex-Kogi Gov Yahaya Bello Wanted

He said that the board would continue to explore means to ensure that no Nigerian child would be left behind in empowerment.

He noted that the special examination was being conducted in 12 centres nationwide.

“Before now, we allowed the candidates to just listen. The proctors will read aloud to them, but this year, we realised that some of them also want to use the braille and read on their own and then answer the questions.

“So, we, in addition to the option of ‘read aloud’ have also decided to introduce the option of ‘fully braille’.

“This means we will print questions on braille for the candidates and they will now use the braille answer sheets to answer the questions.

“Before the commencement of this year’s exercise, we started calling the candidates for this Lagos centre in the past one or two months, to put them on notice about where they would be sitting for the examination, which is the DLI of UNILAG.

“They were also told to get to the centre a day before, with their guides to ensure that they would not be under any pressure.’’

He said that the candidates were checked into hotels alongside their guides.

“They are being well taken care of, and whenever they will be returning to their respective destinations, they will be given transportation allowance,” he said.

The former  LASU vice-chancellor said  that efforts made by the organisers to get across to the six candidates who did not turn up for the examination were futile.

He said that phone  calls  to  numbers they supplied during registration did not respond.

He added that the organisers could not reach them through the e-mail addresses and WhatsApp numbers they supplied.

According to Fagbohun, a Professor of Environmental Law, the candidates would be tested in Government, Arabic, Use of English, Mathematics and Biology, among other subjects. 

UTME: JAMB to refund registration fees to deserving visually-impaired candidates