The Kwara State College of Nursing Sciences and Midwifery, Oke-Ode, in Ifelodun Local Government Area, is enmeshed in a growing storm of corruption, manipulation, and brazen impunity, with staff members and students accusing the Provost, Mr. Abdulquadri Olanrewaju, of running the institution like his personal business empire.

Insiders at the school told SaharaReporters that the Provost and some staff members have turned examinations and admissions into a racket for money and political influence.

“Some of the staff members, including the school provost, are manipulating results for students. These students are very confident that even if they had an issue with their colleagues, they will threaten them that they will not pass,” a staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Another source described the atmosphere of fear on campus, saying, “People always panic because of this. They are now scared of this set of students because they have an affiliation with the provost.”

SaharaReporters learnt that it is not just internal examinations that are being manipulated. The provost is also accused of tampering with entrance examinations and admissions into the school.

“He is not allowing people to get admission on merit. He will be the one to write the names of people he wants to give admission to and send to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) himself. This is a claim the government can verify through JAMB,” a staff member revealed.

Multiple students and parents confirmed to SaharaReporters that the provost and his cronies allegedly demand bribes ranging from N50,000 to N100,000 before releasing results or granting passage into the next stage of training.

“They will put like 400 students in a class, and after the exam, they will ask them to pay N100,000 for them to pass. And we have some students who passed the exam by their efforts, but since the management did not know how they passed those exams, they will still fail them,” a source said.

When the extortion drew the attention of the Nursing and Midwifery Council zonal representative, the management reportedly reduced the fee to N50,000. But the burden on poor families remains crushing.

SaharaReporters learned of a case involving a female student whose mother, a petty trader, had to borrow from a microfinance lender to pay the bribe.

“There is a student who paid this N50,000, and all her mother’s businesses were not up to N100,000. However, this woman went ahead and borrowed a microfinance bank loan, just so her daughter could cross the road. When they saw the student, they asked her, ‘Who are you? Who asked you to pay?’ Then they went into the system and altered her result to fail,” a staff member disclosed.

According to the source, the student had initially seen her result marked as “pass,” but after payment and confrontation, the result was mysteriously changed to “fail,” with no refund given.

“That’s the student who first checked her result with a pass and was later failed after paying and without a refund despite pleading from the poor parents,” the source lamented.

The Kwara State College of Nursing was originally designed as a centre of excellence to produce “academically sound, morally upright, and professionally impeccable nurses.” But insiders say that vision has now been aborted.

Instead of merit and academic excellence, the school is allegedly now defined by bribery, nepotism, forgery, and fraud, with the provost at the centre of it.

Sources revealed that Olanrewaju was controversially appointed in October 2022 despite not meeting the key requirement of possessing a degree in Nursing, as stipulated by law and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

He admitted in his CV that his B.Sc. in Nursing is still “ongoing” at the National Open University of Nigeria, while another Nursing degree from Malaysia is “in view.” Critics argue that he should never have been appointed.

Yet, since assuming office, Olanrewaju has been accused in multiple petitions of corruption, forgery, extortion, and altering students’ results for cash.

Despite petitions and documented evidence, a government panel controversially cleared him, only asking him to sign an MOU promising to work peacefully with other staff, a decision stakeholders described as a political cover-up.

All attempts made by SaharaReporters to reach Provost Mr. Abdulquadri Olanrewaju were unsuccessful.

He did not answer the call made to him and has yet to respond to messages sent via WhatsApp.