N300m fraud in Lagos Ministry of Education uncovered

A financial fraud ofabout N300 millionhas been allegedly discovered in Lagos State Ministry of Education.The alleged scam involved two of the state's educational districts where about N30 million public fund was being diverted, on a monthly basis, to some personal accounts in the last 10 months.According to the source, the fraud was unravelled when a junior staff, precisely a cleaner, found in her account N150,000 and raised the alarm.Frightened by the sudden increase in her account balance, the source said the cleaner reported the case to a colleague who worked with the state Ministry of Justice. The issue later got to the hearing of a senior official in the Ministry of Justice.In its investigation, the Ministry of Justice discovered that N30 million was being paid into some private accounts since last year out of the fund approved by the state government to the six educational districts in the metropolis.The source alleged that some senior officials in the Ministry of Education used the accounts of their subordinates without their knowledge to siphon public funds, adding that the issue had since caused panic at the ministry.The source stated that the state Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had set up an investigation panel to look into the financial misappropriation.Nigerian Tribune further learnt that the accounts of some dead members of staff of the ministry were being operated by some unknown staff with a large chunk of the siphoned money diverted into them.'They keep these accounts to perpetrate this criminal act,' the source added.When the Nigerian Tribune visited the ministry, no member of staff was willing to comment on the matter.
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