The proprietor and Rector of the International College of Administration Science and Technology, Auta Balefi, Nasarawa State, Mr. Olaniran Satiregun, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for operating fake and unapproved academic programmes.
Satiregun was convicted by Honourable Justice Anyalewa Onoja-Alapa of the Federal High Court, Lafia, after being found guilty on all three counts of obtaining by false pretence, a violation of Section 1 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had arraigned Satiregun and the institution in 2024. The Commission’s lead counsel, Mr. Adesina Raheem, presented evidence showing that the college deceived students into enrolling in unaccredited courses such as Nursing, Public Health, and Computer Science between 2019 and 2021.
Findings during the investigation revealed that the institution was only licensed by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to offer four specific courses. However, Satiregun and the college offered illegal admissions, promising professional certificates and degree conversions through foreign affiliations.
One of the charges read in court revealed how Satiregun and the school collected ₦110,000 from one Onmonya Daniel Ogah under the pretext of offering a three-year programme in Nursing and Public Health, a programme the institution had no authority to run.
In her ruling, Justice Onoja-Alapa sentenced Satiregun to seven years behind bars without the option of a fine and ordered that all monies collected from students under the illegal programmes be refunded. The court also directed the institution to confine its operations strictly to the four NBTE-approved courses.