The management of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo state, says an audit of students’ fee payments uncovered an alleged fraud involving a former staff member and some students, resulting in a loss of ₦457,508,645.
In a statement issued by Oyesoji Aremu, the acting vice-chancellor of the institution, the university said findings from the audit revealed that the suspects hacked the school’s payment portal.
According to the university, the alleged scheme involved deceiving 320 students into paying their school fees into the personal account of a female staff member.
The institution said the staff member then fraudulently cleared the students’ outstanding fees on the portal, giving them access to clearance despite the university not receiving the funds.
Aremu stated that the alleged fraud occurred across the 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 academic sessions.
The university disclosed that the staff member involved was an alumna of the Department of Accounting who later worked in the bursary department before resigning in April 2025.
“The exercise has revealed that the fraud was masterminded by a female worker, an alumnus of the Department of Accounting of our university, who was later employed to work at the university bursary. She resigned from the services of the university in April 2025,” the statement reads.
“The fraudulent activities affected three academic sections: 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 Academic Sessions and 320 students paid a total sum of N457,508,645:00 school fees into the personal account of the said lady, who in turn fraudulently cleared such students on the portal without the university receiving the money.
“Many of the students were lured to pay into her account by the offer of discounted fees/commission.
“Eleven members of staff and 34 students were used as agents of the said female worker to ‘recruit’ students for the fraudulent activities. One external person working at Federal Medical Centre Owo was also indicted as having served as an agent of the fraudulent activities.”
The acting vice-chancellor added that the six students directly implicated alongside the former staff member, as well as the 320 students involved in the payments, will face the university’s disciplinary committee.
He also revealed that the institution plans to review the payment records of students who graduated from the university from 2024 onward.