Scholarship: Govt. Loses N125m To ‘Ghost’ Students

As the syndrome of ‘ghost’ workers and students continue to be the order of the day in Nigeria, the government of Niger State, has narrated how it lost over N125million to ‘ghost’ students through a scholarship scheme.

During a recent verification exercise, the state realised that no fewer than 7,000 students purportedly on its scholarship payroll does not exist, a situation fondly referred to ‘ghost’ worker or student as the case may be. The development is more rampant in the civil service.

Dr. Mohammad Nuhu, the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, in a chat with us said the discovery has saved government over N125 million, noting that the achievement was as a result of the introduction of a scratch card issued to all scholarship beneficiaries.

“I wonder how students were able to beat the security of various universities to fill registers made for eligible scholarship beneficiaries ministry on government request with fictitious names. From now on, scholarship applicants must register online for the award via the ministry’s website currently in the making.

“The system is designed with advance features that will prevent any applicant from registering twice and can also detect fake applicants. This is committed to payment of scholarship. N704 million was paid to 58,000 students, covering 2011, 2012 and 2013 academic sessions, and have been concluded for the payment of the 2014 academic session’s scholarship of N94 million for 9,000 students in various institutions nationwide.”