NEWS
FEDPOFFA: Mass Comm. Dept Campaigns Against Corruption In Education Sector
Eunice Oluwafunmilayo
The Federal Polytechnic, Offa in Kwara State held a campaign against corruption in educational sector in Nigeria on Wednesday.
Speaking during the campaign by the Department of Mass Communication at the school premises, the Acting Rector of FEDPOFFA, Dr. Olarongbe Afolabi reinstated the institution’s commitment to the eradication of corruption.
In his words: “stopping corruption completely in Nigeria, if I say it is possible in Nigeria; I am not being realistic. But the fact is that corruption can be contained. And when you are containing corruption, you are stopping it gradually. The ultimate goal is to stop it completely, but we have to start from somewhere and we are starting on a very good note in this Polytechnic.
“Stopping corruption completely will depend on everyone’s mindset. The thing is in Nigeria we are so hypocritical in fighting corruption. Are we sincere? Or we are just doing mere propaganda? The present government wants to fight corruption. And we would remember when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power, he said corruption is one of the things he would fight. Security is also there and economy. Buhari has been fighting corruption, but how far has he gone?
“He is doing it, but as far as we don’t change our mindset, it would be very hard to eliminate corruption in this country. But we can get there, we have started. We know where we are going.
“What is manifesting this morning (i.e Corruption in Education Campaign) is an attestation to what the school is doing to fight corruption.
“The present administration which I head is committed to fighting corruption and we are doing it so well. We have been talking to students and staffers.
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“If we are talking about corruption, there are so many fronts to face. Look at the students, are they students aiding corruption? Look at the staff, are they aiding in exploitation and extortion of the students? Sex for marks and the like? It takes two to tangle.” he said.
Dr. Olarongbe added that corruption goes both ways as it is a consented effort which is faithfully pursued before it become manifested.
He said fighting corruption is one of the principal mantras of this administration and the administration has been working with Servicom, Students Union Government (SUG) and other related bodies.
Also, the Head of Mass Communication Department, Wole Alawode said
Wole Alawode, Head of Department said the purpose of the campaign is to call the attention of all concerned persons, agencies and stakeholders to the corruption in the education sector.
“From the look of things, maybe the Federal government have to declare an emergency on the educational sector. We are having problems. What are the youth doing? What are the beliefs system now?
“Shortcut will lead Nigeria to more problems. So that why we need to call attention the attention of the Federal Government to the education sector. Educational malpractices, cheating and all. In Nigeria, everyone has to wake up to how we are developing our youths. And how is the educational system functioning.
“Many students prefer miracles centers now and it is affecting the quality of instructions they receive. Someone that did not have a proper Olevel result, how can such function properly in the tertiary academic environment? And they will be looking for some cheap way out and they will be causing issues in the system. So we have to look for ways not only in the tertiary level but even secondary schools.
“We have to do something about what we produce. As in the quality of secondary school graduates, coming to tertiary institutions.
“Secondly, we have to make sure we curb all forms of corruption, including examination malpractices, cheating, looking for easy way out, sexual abuse, harassment, intimidation of students, sex for mark and all. There are so many of them.
“So this essence of this campaign is to call attention of the Federal government, stakeholders in the society, religious leaders and institutions, and others; let us all come together and address our youths. How they are growing up and what are we doing about it.
“We are calling for emergency declaration. You can see the level of yahoo yahoo (internet fraud), people don’t care again. People don’t seem to see it as a problem.
“Some 30 years ago, a leader was saying if problems at that time were not solved, we were going to have so-so problems such as Boko Haram. We are having them now. So if today’s problem are not addressed, what would they lead to in the future? And we are all here now, where do you want us to run to?” Alawode said.
A lecturer in the Department and the project supervisor, Chucks Okoji said the choice of topic lies in the fact that the success of any society lies in its academic condition.
“We decided to choose this topic because the success of any developed country lies on its education, now the problem we are having is that the budgetary allocation for education in Nigeria is very low compare to all the United Nations.
“Now if we say we want a better Nigeria, we’ll start from the educational aspect, that’s why we have decided to say no to corruption in Education and every other vices like, laboratories and the studios are underequipped.
“There is no way we’ll say we want to be an technological service controls without having an equiped laboratory. So if things are not done the right way, we are going nowhere.
“On admission racketeering, people that are qualified to have admission are not giving admission but people that can pay are given admission, all these are problems. My HOD mentioned something about all these miracle centres when you see student that get admission to 100 level and they cannot read neither can they write their names then you wonder how they passed WAEC, same thing that we wrote.
“So all these things cannot make us go forward as a country until we actually take analystic approach in ensuring that we do what is right to have a better Nigeria especially on educational sector.
“There are many issues concerning the strike from the University and polytechnic, they (ASUP) just finished two weeks strike now and one of those issues that was addressed was the payment of arrears and minimum wage.
“What the lecturers are actually clamouring for is to have a condusive environment for learning, where students can learn and where internet is enabled for every students even at low cost. The world is a global village, the children don’t have tab even if they have phones they don’t have access to the internet and we cannot learn something that is only in Nigeria. We have to go to other climes to learn something, so the refertilization of the educational sector is what those stakeholders in the educational sector are clamouring for and the government seems not to be serious with it.
“It is unfortunate that most of their wars don’t come to public schools like this, if so they would probably have seen the effect and taken step in addressing the issue. And we hope like normal Nigerian that things will be better, we hope (Laughs).” Okoji said.
In addition, Jimoh Olorede, a lecturer and co-supervisor of the campaign said corruption in the section is both endemic and systemic.
“You know in Nigeria, corruption is both endemic and systemic, what we want to achieve like this is actually to start telling the tied from corruption to education. When we say corruption is endemic and systemic that doesn’t mean it affect only a segment, we have variant of corruption in Nigeria so we want to fight it at the level of education.
“We say communication is ubiquitous that is, its everywhere, corruption in Nigeria is equally ubiquitous is everywhere, among the youth, ederly, our leaders, so corruption is everywhere. Our youth usually dominate the population of the country and we have the youth in education so we want to start re- orientation from our end here, especially at the Federal polytechnic offa.
“We have been having this series campaigns, we actually want to change the value system, value orientation of our students and ourselves. Corruption is not peculiar to a variant of the population, it affect everybody, every step of our system so it is high time everybody stood up and fought corruption.
“It is something that ought to have been fought so it’s high time we started fighting it, we have to stop it because it’s affecting the development of the country, is making the poor poorer, the rich richer and as long as the poor remain poorer and the rich get richer then that thing should be problem.
“God forbids Bad thing in this nation where there will be youth revolt, see what happened during the last ENDSARS protest? The youths were so enraged, they were so aggrieved to the extent that they attacked the governor of Osun State (Gboyega Oyetola)”, Olorede said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has explained why it directed capital market operators to immediately refund funds collected from investors in connection with a purported Initial Public Offering (IPO) by Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE.
In a public notice issued on Tuesday, the Commission revealed that it had observed the circulation of advertisements, flyers, digital banners, and electronic messages across social media and investment platforms inviting members of the public to invest in the refinery through an alleged IPO.
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According to the SEC, the purported offer has not received regulatory approval, as the Commission has neither received nor approved any application from Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE for a public offering.
The regulator expressed concern that some registered capital market operators were actively promoting the unapproved offer and soliciting subscriptions from prospective investors.
Explaining the reason for its directive, the SEC stated that the campaign was misleading and amounted to market manipulation capable of creating false expectations among investors and undermining confidence in Nigeria’s capital market.
The Commission noted that invitations encouraging members of the public to open accounts, pre-fund investments, or reserve guaranteed share allocations for the alleged IPO violate provisions of the Investments and Securities Act as well as existing market regulations.
As a result, the SEC ordered all registered operators, including stockbrokers and promoters of digital investment platforms, to immediately cease all advertising and promotional activities relating to the purported offer.
The Commission further directed operators to remove all related promotional materials from their websites, social media pages, and other communication channels within 24 hours.
In addition, firms were instructed to stop accepting deposits, investment commitments, account registrations, or expressions of interest linked to the alleged public offering.
To protect investors from potential losses, the SEC ordered any operator that had already collected funds in connection with the purported IPO to refund such monies within 24 hours.
The regulator warned that any operator that fails to comply with the directive risks facing sanctions under the Investments and Securities Act 2025 and the SEC Rules and Regulations.
The Commission also advised Nigerians to rely only on information released through approved regulatory channels and to ignore unofficial promotional campaigns or investment solicitations concerning the refinery.
SEC added that if Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE eventually decides to proceed with a public offering and secures regulatory approval, an authorised prospectus will be published in line with the law.
The directive comes amid reports that the Dangote Group is considering listing a 10 per cent stake in its $20 billion refinery through a Pan-African IPO expected in 2026.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has strongly dismissed allegations that its petroleum products are exported to Lomé, Togo, and later re-imported into Nigeria, describing the claims as a “tissue of lies” and lacking both factual and commercial basis.
In a statement released by its management on June 23, 2026, the refinery said the allegations were not supported by available trade flows or commercial logic, insisting that reports suggesting its products are routed through Togo before returning to Nigeria are false.
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The company stated that although it typically avoids responding to what it described as baseless and unsubstantiated claims, it was compelled to address the issue to set the record straight and preserve the facts for posterity.
“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to baseless and unsubstantiated claims, given our current determination and focus in ensuring energy security in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. However, we have decided to clear the air on these ill-motivated web of falsehoods for posterity,” the statement read.
Dangote Refinery said one of its primary objectives is to maintain and strengthen its position as a leading supplier of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, noting that facilitating imports that directly compete with its own products would contradict its business goals.
According to the company, its sales contracts and tender agreements expressly prohibit buyers from reselling or re-importing products into Nigeria.
The refinery further argued that the economics of such a trade arrangement make no sense.
It explained that transporting petroleum products from the refinery to Lomé and subsequently back into Nigeria would cost between $82 and $90 per metric tonne, significantly reducing profitability and making such transactions commercially unattractive.
It added that it does not provide export discounts large enough to offset those logistics costs or create any viable arbitrage opportunity between export and domestic markets.
“Simply put, there is no evident commercial incentive for a producer to incur additional shipping, storage, financing and handling costs only for the product to return and compete in its largest and closest market,” the company said.
Dangote Refinery also highlighted its strict product traceability and compliance measures, revealing that it maintains detailed records of all product sales, including lifting locations, nominated vessels, counterparties and destination declarations where applicable.
The company maintained that any suggestion it knowingly facilitates the re-importation of its products is inconsistent with its contractual restrictions and established compliance procedures.
Reaffirming its commitment to Nigeria’s energy independence, the refinery said it has consistently advocated for reducing the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products, warning that increased imports undermine local refining efforts, place pressure on foreign exchange reserves and weaken domestic industrial development.
“It would therefore be inconsistent with both the refinery’s commercial interests and its publicly stated position to support or encourage practices that increase imports into Nigeria,” the statement added.
The refinery concluded that there is neither a strategic rationale nor a commercial incentive for it to export products to neighbouring countries for subsequent re-importation into Nigeria, stressing that the allegations are not supported by the economics of the trade, contractual arrangements, product traceability records or its long-standing commitment to strengthening domestic refining capacity.
France has confirmed its first-ever case of Ebola virus disease, triggering concern across Europe as health authorities move swiftly to contain the deadly infection.
The French Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that a doctor returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is currently battling a major Ebola outbreak, tested positive for the virus after arriving in France.
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According to officials, the patient was immediately isolated upon arrival, even before laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis, helping to reduce the risk of transmission.
In a statement, the ministry confirmed the identification of “a first positive case of Ebola virus disease on national territory,” marking the first time the virus has been detected in France.
The development also represents the first confirmed Ebola case recorded outside Africa during the current outbreak, which has affected both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
French authorities disclosed that the case was detected in mainland France, while Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is closely monitoring the situation as health agencies intensify surveillance and response measures.
The current outbreak in the DRC was officially declared on May 15 following a series of unexplained deaths in the eastern Ituri Province.
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Despite growing concerns, public health experts have stressed that the risk of widespread global transmission remains low because Ebola is less contagious than many airborne infectious diseases.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and contaminated materials.
Ebola is a severe and often fatal haemorrhagic fever that can cause symptoms including high fever, weakness, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
French health authorities have assured the public that all necessary precautions are being taken to contain the case and prevent any further spread of the disease.
The announcement has nevertheless sparked anxiety across Europe, given the deadly nature of the virus and its emergence outside the African continent during the ongoing outbreak.
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