five staff members of Kogi State Polytechnic has been suspended for allegedly involvement in certificate racketeering and document falsification.
According to the institution’s rector, Professor Salisu Ogbo, the group includes five staff members who have now been suspended and four individuals posing as students after the institution launched an investigation into the matter.
The rector revealed that the fraudulent activities were discovered through intelligence reports and regular verification exercises carried out by the Admission, ICT, and Security Units of the polytechnic.
Professor Ogbo disclosed that the syndicate had forged at least 30 National Diploma (ND) certificates, which were sold to prospective buyers. In a bold move, some of the culprits even used these fake certificates to apply for Higher National Diploma (HND) admission in the same institution. He added that the perpetrators had tampered with the official security features on Statements of Result and manipulated academic records in collaboration with corrupt insiders.
The rector further explained that some result processors colluded with the suspects to fabricate results for students who had multiple carryovers but never sat for the required examinations. Such deceitful practices, he said, not only undermine the integrity of the school’s academic processes but also threaten the institution’s long-standing reputation for excellence and transparency.
In response, Professor Ogbo reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to maintaining strong quality assurance and security systems. He assured stakeholders and the public that Kogi Polytechnic would continue to expose and punish all forms of academic fraud. The rector emphasized that the school would not tolerate any misconduct capable of tarnishing its image or compromising its standards.
