The Initiative for Citizens’ Rights, Accountability and Development (ICRAD) has called on the Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello to investigate its Secondary Education Board (SEB) over alleged fees racketeering.
The Executive Director of ICRAD, Mr Luqman Hassan made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.
Hassan said that there was the need to unravel the corruption and illegality involved in the unconscionable imposition of fees on secondary school students in FCT.
According to him, Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed, former SEB boss has imposed N1,500 levy for online classes conducted for FCT students who were at home during the COVID-19 lockdown period claiming it is with the knowledge of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA).
He added that the organisation in a bid to investigate spoke with a number of school principals and selected members of excos of some school PTAs in the affected schools within the FCT.
Hassan said that those spoken with while pleading for anonymity for fear of victimisation, expressed their opposition to the policy.
”It is our findings that these PTAs operate independent of and in isolation from one another.
” The PTAs in the FCT have never had and presently do not have a central umbrella body, union or association.
”Individual school PTAs have their separate bank accounts opened in the name of the various schools and operated in conjunction with PTAs of the schools in question.
”Consequently, it is curious how, when, where and why these independent PTAs came together to agree on imposing N1,500 on themselves and paying such an amount directly into the bank account of s private consultancy firm,” he said.
The executive director said that the organisation had through a petition invited the anti-grant agency to look into the imposition of N1,500 PTA levy per annum on all students in JSS3 and SS 1-3 in the FCT by the board.
He added that the levy foisted on indigent students and their poor parents run contrary to legal enactments such as the UBE Act, relevant public procurement laws and the Treasury Single Account Regulations.
