Angela Nwofoke, a primary school teacher in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, had been ordered to refund N1.4 million, which she fraudulently collected as salaries from the state government.
Nwofoke perpetrated the act for a period of five years as she had been suspended indefinitely and was to be prosecuted for the fraud.
The State Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board, Chief Hycinth Ikpor, disclosed this on Monday when he visited the school.
Ikpor said the fraud was discovered during the personal audit conducted by the board, as Nwofoke had abandoned her duty post since 2012, but returned on learning of the audit.
He said: “She placed one Miss Theresa to ‘stand-in’ for her and pays her N8,000 monthly from the amount she illegally receives as salary.
“We have checked the total amount paid to her and it amounted to N1.4 million being salaries she illegally collected in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.”
The UBEB chairman also announced that one Gregory Nwajiaku, the school’s head teacher, and 20 other teachers had been demoted by one-grade level for aiding and abetting the fraud.
Ikpor said: “The demotion was because they connived with Nwofoke to defraud the government, as they have also been transferred from the school.
“The teachers in the school are all liars if they claim ignorance of someone named Theresa that has been ‘standing-in’ for Nwofoke for five years in the school.”
Ikpor reiterated the board’s readiness to sanitise the school system and restore the lost glory of education in the state.
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