Despite a clear warning from the Cross River State government, lecturers at the College of Health Technology, Calabar, have allegedly continued to impose unapproved levies on students.
Just two weeks ago, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Henry Egbe Ayuk, strongly condemned the illegal collection of fees at the Ogoja College of Nursing Sciences, calling it a gross abuse of trust and a violation of the government’s education standards.
This follows a viral video circulating on social media, which reportedly exposed cases of student extortion without any official documentation to support the payments.
The scandal had ignited widespread outrage among parents, students, and the general public, with many calling for urgent action.
As a result, the commissioner issued a directive ordering an immediate stop to the illegal collections across all state health institutions.
He further mandated that all unjustified payments be fully refunded to the affected students without excuses.
The Health Commissioner, enraged by the revelations, announced that a full-scale inquiry would be established to uncover the extent of the corruption and bring the perpetrators to justice.
He had advised that any institution engaged in such shameful acts must halt them immediately and return all illegal collections to the victims.
However, findings at the College of Health Technology, Calabar, revealed that lecturers and examiners have paid no heed to the warning.
Students in both the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes who are participating in the ongoing examinations are allegedly being compelled to individually pay between N10,000 and N15,000 to lecturers to ‘sort’ courses; otherwise, they risk failing these courses.
Additional findings revealed that several others are also compelled to buy handouts or books authored by particular lecturers, which they claimed they had already purchased in previous classes.
Some of the students told the DAILY POST that the extortion had continued, adding that they had complained several times to the school authorities, including department heads, for intervention, to no avail.
The students stated that a few days ago, they had challenged a particular lecturer who came to their examination class, insisting that they must each pay N15,000 for his course or risk failing.
“We see this as significant extortion. Many of us have paid our school fees and other official charges, such as departmental fees, yet we are still burdened with compulsory and additional fees that we cannot afford.
“In our class, we are over 50. If you multiply N15,000 by that number, you will be surprised by the staggering amount somebody will go home with, an amount that is not their monthly salary.
“Of course, some of us have stamped our feet. We will not pay. We will resist intimidation and excessive extortion,” one of them said.
Another female student alleged that many of the lecturers hardly attended classes, yet they would demand money to ‘sort’ their courses.
According to him, there is too much corruption in the school.
An official in the office of the provost, who gave his name as Dr John, denied that the school authorised such illegal extortion.
“It is not true that the school authorities know such demands allegedly placed by some lecturers.
“The school has usually cautioned against any form of extortion.
“I am sure that the school will look into such allegations”, he said.
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