The Presidential Amnesty Programme has said that it does not owe school fees of 5000 students in Novena University, Ogume, Delta State.

The PAP, in a statement on Tuesday, stated that the agency is not owing fees in Novena or any institution within or outside the country.

PAP said that there were no records in Novena University and the Amnesty Office concerning the award of scholarship to the 5000 Itsekiri students of the institution.

PAP explained in the statement that the report of an inquiry into the issue by previous heads of the agency revealed that the 5000 Itsekiri indigenes were sent to the management of Novena University by the Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) in 2017 without the involvement of the agency.

It added that it was not conceivable for the PAP to take responsibility for the students who were not deployed by the agency.

The statement read, “The management of PAP wishes to state unequivocally that it is not owing Novena University any tuition fees on account of the said Itsekiri graduates, and any claim to the contrary is totally false, baseless, and represents an attempt to stand truth on its head.

“PAP wishes to say also that it is not owing tuition fees in any institution within or outside the country.

“To set the records straight, it is necessary to inform the public that the affected Itsekiri graduates were a subject of a formal investigation launched by a previous PAP leadership into allegations of scholarship admission racketeering under the programme’s formal education at Novena. Three other partnering universities were also investigated.

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“The report of the inquiry showed that the affected Itsekiri graduates constituted a list of 5000 Itsekiri indigenes that was sent to the management of Novena University by the Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) in 2017, purporting them to be PAP scholarship beneficiaries.

“The investigation revealed that the list in question did not emanate from the PAP, and did not also have any authorisation or approval of the Amnesty Programme office. Therefore, the affected Itsekiri indigenes could not have been deemed to be beneficiaries of the PAP scholarship scheme.

“Additionally, the inquiry also revealed that there was no correspondence between the PAP and Novena University, indicating that the PAP approved the purported list of 5000 Itsekiri students to be deployed to the institution.

“The investigative committee, during its work, met with the INYC president and the secretary, as well as principal officers of Novena University, led by its Vice-Chancellor, who could not produce any documentation between the PAP and the institution on the affected Itsekiri graduates.

“At the end of the exercise, the PAP duly informed the management of Novena University that the Amnesty Programme office would not bear any liability for the affected students. Doing so would have amounted to encouraging sharp practices.