By The Informant247
While the practice of mark-for-grade and extortion is common at the Kwara State Polytechnic, it is far more systematic under Mr. Abdul Olarewaju Hassan, a senior lecturer and former head of the Estate Management and Valuation Department. In this investigation, The Informant247’s Toheeb Omotayo documented, with evidence, how Mr. Hassan has been massively extorting his students. For him, this is a lucrative business that fetches him millions of naira. Students who refused his demands faced dire consequences.
He is an ally of the institution’s rector, Dr. Abdul Jimoh, making him very powerful. Several times, petitions and complaints were lodged against him; several times, they were ignored. The one that eventually scaled through, the rector, had reportedly been sitting on its recommendations. Being one of many, the resonating effect casts a shadow on the overall academic integrity of the institution.
When Adesola* (name changed) was appointed a class representative for final-year students in the Department of Estate Management and Valuation at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, he was elated. He believed his primary responsibility was to act as a liaison between his colleagues and lecturers, ensuring effective communication and addressing concerns. However, no sooner had he resumed the role than he quickly realized that it entailed far more than he had anticipated — and in ways he never expected.
Instead of focusing on facilitating effective communication, Adesola’s primary responsibility became extorting money from students on behalf of lecturers.
“As a class rep, my main role was to collect money from students, record their matriculation numbers, and send the money to lecturers. I also have to submit the list of the students who paid,” he told The Informant247.
While the practice of exchanging money for marks is common at the Kwara State Polytechnic and other Nigerian institutions, it was far more systematic under Mr. Abdul Olarewaju Hassan, a senior lecturer and former head of the Estate Management and Valuation Department. For Mr. Hassan, this practice appeared to be a lucrative business and a primary source of making a huge income.
“It’s either you pay, or you face the consequences. He would instruct me to inform students,”
Adesola recounted.
For Adesola, this was an unbearable burden. He knew many of his colleagues struggled to make ends meet and saw how they toiled just to gather the money demanded.
“They are my colleagues, and I understand the hardships they face. Many had to take on menial jobs to survive. Even as little as N2,000, some of them couldn’t afford it,” he said.
‘I Raised Millions Of Naira For Him’
Adesola told The Informant247 that he had personally collected millions of naira for Mr. Hassan on multiple occasions. He noted that the monies were often sent to his Access or Opay bank accounts.
“Every time we finished our exams, he would instruct me to collect ‘after-exam money’ from students. After collecting the money, I would send it to him and submit the matriculation numbers of those who paid,” Adesola explained.
It wasn’t limited to exams, either. Students were also required to pay for tests and assignments. Refusal to pay came with dire consequences.
“If you didn’t pay, you had to face the repercussions — he can do and undo. As our Head of Department and a highly influential figure in the school, other lecturers had no choice but to follow his lead,” Adesola said.
Verified transaction receipts, exclusively obtained and studied over a period of two months by The Informant247, showed that Mr. Hassan received funds at different times from students through the two class representatives, with the amounts deposited into either of his two personal accounts in multiple tranches.
“This transaction receipt is for the assignment. These are for exam mark upgrades, while those are for test submissions,” Adesola told our team while explaining what some of the transaction receipts we had earlier exclusively obtained were meant for.
He further revealed that some students, who were supposed to graduate in 2023, had to stay for an extra year simply because they couldn’t pay Mr Hassan.
‘Students Who Fail To Pay Have To Stay Extra Year(s)’
“I have colleagues who couldn’t pay the money, and because of that, they had to retake courses, which cost them one or two extra years in school. It’s not that these students didn’t want to pay, but they simply couldn’t afford it,” he explained.
When The Informant247 reached out to these students, they were too afraid to speak up.
“I can’t afford to do another year. I just want to rewrite my exams, pay, and graduate,” one student said, declining to provide her name or any further details.
A former student leader who was a victim of Mr. Hassan contacted by The Informant247 said “I was on my way to Lagos at that time when he called after I finished my exams. He made his demands, but I couldn’t meet up. He failed me, and I had to rewrite the course. Later, he told me that he intentionally wanted to deal with me. He is very ruthless; he has destroyed a lot of students. For him, the higher the money you pay, the higher the grades you get.”
Students Lament Extortion For Final-Year Projects In Several Audio Recordings
In several separate audio recordings obtained exclusively by The Informant247, graduated students lamented how Mr Hassan extorted them with promises of good grades for their final-year projects. They claimed that to pass, students had to pay him; the more money they paid, the higher their grades.
“My friend and I had to meet him in his office and give him N50,000 in cash, but in the end, he disappointed us. Our GP was very low because Lanre Hassan didn’t give us good grades for our project, which carries the highest marks,” one student said in a voice recording obtained by our team.
Another student said, “Lanre Hassan didn’t give us very good grades as promised despite us paying him. My friend and I paid him N25,000 each.”
A married female student in another audio conversation with a colleague lamented, “I do travel a long distance to come to school. I sat for all my exams and attended all my classes. When we were told we had to pay Mr. Hassan to pass, I scraped together the money, but in the end, those who didn’t attend classes or defend their projects got better results.”
Further findings by The Informant247 showed that only students who paid higher sums were awarded good grades, while those who paid N25,000 or less were given just a passing mark.
‘Attempts Cover-Up’
The Informant247 learned that when the extortion became excessive and students started submitting complaints to the school management, along with screenshots of payment receipts, Mr. Hassan reportedly began contacting students who had made payments to him, advising them on how to justify the transactions if questioned by the management.
In a voice recording exclusively obtained by The Informant247, one of the students said,“My friend called me yesterday and told me that screenshots of some payments made to the Estate Management HOD, Mr. Hassan, for runsz (to get good grades) had been sent to the school management. He is a very close friend of mine. He told me that the HOD called him and advised him on how to defend himself regarding the payment if questioned by the school management. So, the reason I’m calling you is to ask if you didn’t forward the screenshot of the payment I made to the HOD for confirmation to anybody.”
‘Students Who Didn’t Attend Final Project Defence, Failed Major Courses, Scaled Through’
According to petitions sighted by The Informant247, Mr. Hassan reportedly passed several students who didn’t sit for one major course or another. He was also said to have awarded marks to students who didn’t sit for their final project defense.
In one of the petitions, he was accused of passing no fewer than 21 students who either didn’t sit for exams, failed and carried a major course, or didn’t attend their final project defense.
According to the petition, Mr. Hassan allegedly altered the original version of students’ records by using his influence as Head of Department to pass some students who did not rewrite their carryovers and others who did not sit for certain examinations.
It further added that Mr. Hassan awarded grades to students who failed to defend their final-year projects, in violation of the institution’s internal policies on academic project implementation.
Rector Reportedly Sitting On Recommendation: Sources
After a panel investigated the allegations that he awarded grades to undeserving students in November 2024, a recommendation for Mr Hassan’s sanction was made. However, according to sources, the rector has yet to implement this recommendation.
“The recommendation paper has been on the rector’s table for nearly two months now. This same panel has recommended the dismissal of some staff over this same issue and the rector has approved their recommendations without delay. Most of them have been sacked. But I wonder why the recommendation for Mr. Hassan is still pending,” said a staff member who preferred to remain anonymous.
“When he was removed from his position as HOD, he claimed that he wasn’t satisfied with the judgment, saying the panel was biased. He belongs to the rector’s caucus, which makes him untouchable eventually,” one source familiar with the situation told The Informant247.
‘I Don’t Have Any Comment’: Mr. Lanre Hassan
When contacted on the phone, Mr Hassan declined to comment and directed The Informant247 to reach out to the school.
When asked about the petition against him, he said, “Go to the school and verify that one. It has to do with the school. Go to the authorities.”
Case Before The School Panel – Mgt
The institution’s spokesperson, Mrs Halima Garba, confirmed that a panel had reviewed the case, but could not confirm whether a report had been submitted to the rector.
“I just spoke with Mr Lanre Hassan, and he confirmed that the case is before the staff disciplinary committee. Our position is that we will wait for the report from the committee before taking any action,” she said.
When The Informant247 further informed her that our findings showed the panel had sent its recommendations to the rector, who had been sitting on it, she replied, “I’ve been trying to reach the chairperson (of the panel), but her number hasn’t been going through. Let me try again, and if it still doesn’t work, I will reach out to the committee secretary to find out whether the report has been submitted.”
In a later call, Mrs. Garba said, “I learned the chairperson traveled and her number was unreachable. The secretary as well. I couldn’t get through to them.” She promised to get back to our team.
However, subsequent calls to her to confirm whether she had spoken to either the chairperson or the secretary were unanswered.
Kwara Poly, A Haven Of Corruption
In October 2024, The Informant247 published an investigative report that revealed a senior lecturer and Director at the institution, Mr. Aremu Garba, diverted a total of N10,285,000 in student funds to various personal accounts, just five months into his appointment.
Barely three weeks after the publication, he was removed from his directorship position, but sources still say he wields significant power in the institution, himself being a close ally of the Rector.
Earlier in the year, The Informant247 reported how the Rector, Engr. Abdul Jimoh Muhammed made false claims about the institution’s financial status and commissioned shoddy, unfinished projects despite millions released for them.
Additionally, the state government revealed it had uncovered massive corruption involving staff at the Polytechnic. However, no further action has been taken to prosecute the staff implicated in the alleged corrupt practices.
In 2022, the state government once again accused the Polytechnic Rector of making illegal and backdoor staff recruitments. The government warned that such practices would attract sanctions, yet no further steps were taken afterward.
*For the protection of this individual, their identity has been kept confidential.
This report was produced with support and funding from Civic Media Lab