The Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission ( OSOPADEC) has berated some higher institutions conniving with people in attempt to defraud the commission through bursary and scholarship award.
The Secretary of the OSOPADEC, Mrs Abike Bayo-Ilawole,during a flag-off of the 2023/2024 OSOPADEC on Monday in Akure, accused some applicants claiming to be indigenes of the two oil producing local government areas of the state.
Bayo-Ilawole explained that such people connived with authorities of some higher institutions in order to benefit from the commission’s bursary and scholarship award.
She said that many fraudulent acts were discovered by the commission in the process of approving the list of beneficiaries of the 2022/2023 bursary/ scholarship awards to students of the mandate areas.
Bayo-Ilawole noted that many names of applicants were removed from the record of the commission having discovered by the technical committee of the commission that they had engaged in sharp practices.
According to her, some applicants could not defend what they claim to have possessed nor their parental ancestry be traced to the two local government areas, which are mandate areas.
She said that the commission is bent in carrying out comprehensive scrutiny in ensuring that any beneficiary of the scheme is a student and an indigene from the mandate areas.
She promised that all students that would apply in the 2023/2024 bursary and scholarship award would be paid, adding that the commission had paid all outstanding approved applicants.
The secretary added that over 5,000 students benefited from the scheme in the concluded payment of bursary and scholarship award.
Bayo-Ilawole explained that the motive of the scheme was to support students who were indigenes of the mandate areas to have access to education irrespective of their financial stance.
The commission’s Secretary noted that the commission had also concluded to give free essential textbooks to public primary and secondary schools in the mandate areas with over 2,000 pieces of furniture to be donated.
She commended the state governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, for releasing funds to the commission’s in carrying out its visions and missions and by putting smiles on faces of residents of the mandate areas.
According to her, over 65 public schools affected by overflowing water will be renovated as approved by the state governor.
Bayo-Ilawole asked people of the areas to cooperate with the commission and make their observations known to the appropriate department of the commission.
Also speaking, Mr Kayode Ebiseni, the Director, Community and Welfare Department in the commission, said that the commission had been consistent in payment of bury and scholarship awards to helping the students in higher schools.
Ebiseni noted that the major difficulty faced by the commission was fraudulent stance from many applicants in conniving with school authorities.
He cited a higher institution that cleared 903 applicants to be bona fide students of the institution that were from the mandate areas, stating that 273 students were only found to be genuine students of the submitted names.
The director added that another school’s authorities sent 350 names as confirmed students from the mandate areas but saying that the verification of the commission could only authenticate only 180 applicants to be real students.
Ebiseni commended the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta for disapproving a claim of 137 applicants to be its students.
He said that some people had intention of defrauding the commission, applauding the secretary for succeeding in paying all genuine students from the mandate areas.
In his remarks, the state governor, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Laolu Akindolire, applauded the Secretary for moving the commission forward
Aiyedatiwa appealed to would-be beneficiaries to make use of the award and deploy it to the betterment of their academic pursuit.
Appreciating the gesture, the President of the Association of Ilaje Students,Mr Franklin Amuwa, said that the bursary and scholarship was being awaited for payment.
Amuwa said that students had trust in the process and credibility of the award when being disbursed.