The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Badagry Area Command, has uncovered a suspected fake university operating from a three-bedroom apartment in Ilado, Olorunda Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, rescuing 106 youths allegedly recruited into the fraudulent scheme.
The command also arrested the suspected proprietor of the institution, who is accused of deceiving young people from across Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries with promises of admission into a foreign university.
The operation was carried out in the early hours of Monday after several days of intelligence gathering and covert surveillance by NSCDC operatives.
According to the corps, the institution operated without an official name, registration, signboard or recognised campus, while allegedly presenting itself online as a distance-learning centre affiliated with a foreign university.
Speaking on the operation, the Badagry Area Commander, Chief Superintendent Gbenga Ekunola, said the raid followed credible intelligence on the activities at the apartment.
“We got reliable intelligence about the activities going on there. Our officers monitored the place for days before moving in. We have arrested the proprietor, who is assisting with our investigation, while the students have been taken into our protective custody,” Ekunola said.
Preliminary investigations showed that the rescued youths, mostly aged between 19 and 24, were recruited from several states, including Kogi, Oyo and parts of northern Nigeria. Others reportedly travelled from neighbouring countries such as Niger, Cameroon and Togo after being recruited online.
Investigators disclosed that the victims allegedly paid between ₦200,000 and ₦1.5 million as admission and processing fees, while some foreign nationals reportedly paid between $400 and $500 after being promised admission into a foreign tertiary institution.
The NSCDC also revealed that those admitted were allegedly required to recruit additional students in return for commission payments.
According to investigators, the recruitment model operated like a Ponzi or chain-marketing scheme, with participants promised higher financial rewards based on the number of people they brought into the programme.
One of the victims reportedly told investigators that after paying $400 to join the scheme, he persuaded his brother in Kogi State to enrol and had already begun receiving referral commissions.
Further investigations uncovered another aspect of the operation, with some participants allegedly involved in promoting unidentified products online while earning commissions from both product sales and new recruitments.
Ekunola expressed concern that many parents were unaware of their children’s actual activities in Badagry.
“We have started contacting their families. One parent told us her child informed the family that he came to Badagry to learn a trade, not to attend a university. That shows many of these parents were completely unaware,” he said.
He said all the rescued youths would be profiled before being reunited with their families after investigations are concluded.
The area commander added that anyone found culpable in operating the alleged fake institution would be prosecuted in accordance with the law.
The NSCDC said investigations have been widened to identify other members of the network, uncover additional collaborators and determine whether similar operations exist in other parts of the country.
The discovery has heightened concerns over the increasing prevalence of fraudulent online admission schemes targeting young Nigerians and foreign nationals seeking educational opportunities abroad.
