An illegal private polytechnic, Oke-Ogun College of Management Science and Technology and the College of Education Iseyin (Oke-OgunTech) have been uncovered in Iseyin, gateway to Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, Daily Post reports.
Indigenes of the town, under the banner of Ebedi Frontliners, have petitioned the governor of the state, Engr. Seyi Makinde, Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and the National Board of Technical Education to immediately close the polytechnic being operated illegally by some individuals in the community.
Ebedi Frontliners, a socio-cultural group in Iseyin area of the state in a petition signed by its president, Alhaji Segun Fasasi and the vice president, Mr Bambi Abiodun, among other members, claimed that investigation revealed to them that the institution was not duly registered and not accredited to admit students for National Diploma certificates or any other academic programme.
The group said a visit it undertook to the campus showed that those behind the establishment of the school were out to allegedly dupe unsuspecting students and their parents because attempts to verify the authenticity of the institution showed it was not registered and lacked the capacity to offer academic certificates.
Ebedi Frontliners further said the condition under which students, who the school claimed were on scholarship from Lagos and adjoining towns, attended lectures was not fit for human beings as the structures in place were not completed or habitable.
“Some people have come to Iseyin to dupe innocent students and their parents with the claim that they were running a campus affiliated to the Olabisi Onabanjo University at a point.
“They even promised the students that they would make it possible for them to be called up by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
“Some of us called attention to the scam but people did not listen until those behind it ran away, leaving the hapless students confused and disappointed. We have made enquiries about this Oke-Ogun College of Management Science and Technology, it is not among the latest 64 accredited private polytechnics in Nigeria by NBTE.
“They even claim to be an NGO and called their school ‘Scholarship Campus’ and have been going round to ask people of means to give indigent students scholarship to study in their school, is that not a scam?
While noting that Iseyin people are law-abiding, they said they have reached out to people that matter in the community as well as security agencies to take up the task of doing independent verification before they decided to write to the governor, the minister and the NBTE, to as a matter of urgency, shut down the scam perpetrated by a man said to be from Kogi State and acting registrar an Ijaw to dupe the people.
Reacting, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Rahman Abiodun Abdu-Raheem directed that the billboards of the institution be removed to pave way for normalcy and ensure the needful is done.
The proprietor of the college, Mr Adewale Owoseni who had earlier admitted not registering the institution with the Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for now explained that he had commenced the process of registration with NBTE, Kaduna and the NCC in Abuja in respect of the approval.
However, the commissioner emphasized the need for the Proprietor to have done the needful, to save the state from unnecessary embarrassment.
