When you think you have heard it all, and then this comes up!! Things are happening under the sun oh! The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Badagry Area Command, has uncovered a suspected fake university
The university operates from a three-bedroom apartment in Ilado, Olorunda Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
In the process 106 youths were rescued.
The command also arrested the alleged proprietor of the institution, who was accused of luring young people from across Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries with promises of admission into a foreign university.
The operation was carried out in the early hours of Monday following days of intelligence gathering and covert surveillance by NSCDC operatives.
According to the corps, the suspected institution was operating without an official name, registration, signboard or recognised campus, while allegedly presenting itself online as a distance-learning centre affiliated with a foreign university.
On Monday, the Badagry Area Commander of the NSCDC, Chief Superintendent Gbenga Ekunola, said the raid followed credible intelligence about activities at the apartment.
“We got reliable intelligence about the activities going on there. Our officers monitored the place for days before moving in. We have arrested the proprietor, who is assisting with our investigation, while the students have been taken into our protective custody,” Ekunola said.
Investigations revealed that the rescued youths, mostly between the ages of 19 and 24, came from several Nigerian states, including Kogi, Oyo and some northern states. Others reportedly travelled from neighbouring countries such as Niger, Cameroon and Togo after being recruited online.
Preliminary findings indicated that the victims were persuaded to pay admission and processing fees ranging from ₦200,000 to ₦1.5 million, while some foreign nationals reportedly paid between $400 and $500 after being promised admission into a foreign tertiary institution.
The NSCDC further discovered that the admission offer allegedly came with a recruitment condition requiring participants to bring in more students in exchange for commissions.
Investigators said the arrangement allegedly operated like a Ponzi or chain-marketing scheme, with participants promised increasing financial rewards based on the number of new recruits they brought into the programme.
One of the victims reportedly told investigators that after paying $400, he convinced his brother in Kogi State to enrol and had already started receiving referral commissions.
The command also uncovered another dimension of the operation, alleging that some participants were involved in promoting unidentified products online while earning percentages from product sales and recruitment.
Expressing concern over the incident, Ekunola said many parents were unaware of what their children were actually doing in Badagry.
“We have started contacting their families. One parent told us her child informed the family that he came to Badagry to learn a trade, not to attend a university. That shows many of these parents were completely unaware,” he said.
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