By; SANI ALIYU, Zaria.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) sealed First Bank, Zaria main branch located in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State for over Six hours over missing students’ registration fee.
It would be recalled that about 1,128 students of Federal College of Education (FCE), Zaria who paid their registration fee at First Bank, Zaria main branch, Sabo Gari was missing.
Speaking to Journalists shortly after a meeting with the bank’s branch management and the police, NANS National President, Mr Aruna Kadiri said: “Over a period of time, students of FCE have been paying their registration fees at First Bank.
“I don’t know what happened but categorically, I can tell you that the bank had committed a fraudulent act because according to them, over 1,128 students paid their school fees in the bank but it didn’t reflect in TSA account.
“The students said this is our teller and this is the remmital, let’s resolve this issue but the bank refused, that’s why I’ve come down here to ask the bank why have you defrauded my students?,” he noted.
He lamented that the bank had claimed in a publication that the students did not pay the money in the bank and “that’s why we come with the tellers to ask the bank where these tellers were generated from?
“Conclusively, during our deliberation with the bank, we have all agreed that this fraud was perpetrated by some of their staff but unfortunately they have refused to accept responsibility before our emergence here.
“However, they have finally accepted? We are here since morning and the bank has been shutdown since morning. Now we have all agreed that business should continue but it is already after 4pm now.
“We have finally agreed that the students should come with their tellers to the bank and the bank should rectify it and the bank should refute the publication that the students did not pay their money in the bank between now and Friday,” he said.
Investigation by our correspondent in Zaria revealed that the national body of NANS was in Zaria to demand the whereabout of the said money to give the affected students a sense of belonging.
Sources at the bank, who pleaded for anonymity said the principal suspect, who possibly connived with some management staff of the college was a staff of the bank but resigned his appointment before the alarm was blown.
In our previous reports, the management of the college denied involvement allegations leveled against them, assuring that as part of efforts to ascertain the truth of the matter, it had establish a committee.
According to the management, through the college Registrar, Dr Jibril Lawal and the Bursar, Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Uwais, the committee was saddled with the responsibility of screening the students under the chairmanship of the college bursar, Mohammed Sani-Uwais.
“This is a serious issue, as such, we’ve reported it to the police and they advised us to come back and set-up an investigation committee to investigate the matter, which we did.
“As a committee, we’ve gone a long way in discharging our responsibilities. When an affected student appears before us, we’ll ask him/her how did he/she make the payment? Whom did he/she pay to? Can you identify him or her?
“We want to establish where the problem is and also who and who are involved in the shoddy deal and report back to the management for further action,” the management said.
However, the case was reported to the Police Area Command in Zaria and subsequently taken to Chief Magistrate Court at Kings Road Sabongari, Zaria.
When contacted, the head of Corporate Affairs of the bank’s headquarters in Lagos, Mr Babatunde Lasaki said they were informed about what was going on in Zaria branch, and called on students to remain calm.
He said since the matter in question was already with the police and the police have confirmed receipt of the case, the students should have allowed the police to carry out their responsibilities.
“Remember, everybody has the right to demonstrate but we have asked the branch to be calm and let the police know about it so that they can restore law and order.”
