DELSU accused of billing students N4,000 for unprocured magazine

A firm named Tondek Agency Limited has accused Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka of collecting N4,000 from students for a school magazine that is eventually not procured.

According to Punch, the agency which was put in charge of producing the magazine since 2017 opened up on the matter.

Anthony Arugba, the director of contacts at Tondek Agency, alleged that the school had been collecting the magazine fee since 2017 but has refused to remit to the agency for the past two academic sessions.

“We were surprised to hear the VC of the institution deny that the school did not collect N4,000 for the school magazine,” he said.

“They have been collecting the money since we introduced the magazine in 2017.

“As I speak to you now, the school is collecting N4,000 without remitting to the agency that printed the magazine for two years, and these students were not given the magazine. This is extortion and a fraudulent act.

“The N4,000 school magazine fee is one of the pre-requisites for collecting the school certificate or for clearance of admission, so students are still paying the money but we’re not given the magazine.

“We have a receipt dated December 2, 2021, but they have devised another means of paying the N4,000 through bank draft to cover up their tracks.”

Andy Egwunyenga, the vice-chancellor at DELSU, was quoted as denying the claims of extortion.

Egwunyenga said there was never a time in his administration that the institution exploited students or demanded any payment of N4,000 for the production of the school magazine.

“When I came in as VC, I discovered fraud in the publication of the magazine. Immediately, I directed students to stop paying for the DELSU @ 25 magazines, especially at a time when DELSU is about 30 years,” he said.

“I don’t want to talk much because I have already directed my lawyers to put their documents together, we are going to court for the blackmail.”