The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday quizzed some management staff of the Kwara State Scholarship Board over alleged N150 million bursary fraud.

Those interrogated by the operatives of the commission’s Ilorin Zonal Office  include the board’s chairperson, Hajia Fatimoh Yusuf, Executive Secretary Fatai Lamidi and Accountant, Stephen Ajewole, among others.

As at the time of filing this report, the officials were still being grilled by the operatives.

It was gathered that the state government in 2017 and 2018 released N150 million as bursary allowances for 10,000 students, who are indigenes of the state in tertiary institutions.

It was also learnt that the board did not pay up to 4,000 students, but allegedly fraudulently converted the remaining ones to personal use.

The petitioners, who are students of some higher institutions, had alleged that their names appeared as beneficiaries of the bursary allowances, but never received the money.

During interrogation by the operatives of the commission, the students, who sighted their names, matriculation numbers and signatures, became very angry, insisting that the names and matriculation numbers were correct but their signatures were forged.

They claimed not to have been the original beneficiaries of the controversial bursary allowance despite their particulars on the scholarship board’s documents.

The officials of the board had earlier told the operatives of the anti-graft body that the students were issued cheques, but the commission discovered that only few beneficiaries were given cash.