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Two employees at the Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) have been arrested in Lilongwe for allegedly stealing through a private university, MWK335 million (US$326,000) meant for student loans between 2018 and 2019. Failing to pay rent and provide loans to students at the tertiary institutions, the university made a proposal to the board for a donation of MWK10 million (US$9,750). The board instead sent MWK300 million and asked the university to return the additional money to various accounts belonging to employees at the loans board.

A report on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) by the Presidential Visitation Panel, which is investigating the affairs of UNILAG between 2016 and 2020, has revealed that two of the states of the Federation of Nigeria, namely Lagos and Ogun, lost NGN2.9 billion (US$7 million) due to gross under-deduction of staff salaries over five years by the institution. The seven-member panel detected cases of contract splitting and frivolous contract awards.

Four former senior officials from the Eastern Cape Department of Education and a company director have been arrested on corruption charges involving the purchase of textbooks for students. The senior education official bypassed the department's supply chain process by obtaining a Supplementary Resource Material (SRM) agreement that was not required. Reports allege that the official received a bribe in the form of two laptops and a mobile phone from the company that received the R59 million for the SRM material.

Reports show that criminals exploit cash payments made by West African students to pay tuition and other service fees at United Kingdom universities. Private universities and cross-border foreign campuses in Africa are used as an investment and to integrate the proceeds of crime into the legitimate economy. When more than the tuition fee is paid, they request the university to refund the overpayment to a third party’s account such as the bank account of a drug supplier or a bribed official.

A former Executive secretary of the Lagos State Scholarship Board has been charged with 8 counts of criminal conversion of N127 million belonging to the scholarship board. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s report revealed that the funds meant for students’ scholarship payments, staff welfare and office renovation had been used for personal purposes.

A recent report highlights risks of investment of funds into the UK education sector by African elites, including “politically exposed persons”, some of whom have been convicted of corruption or whose assets have been seized by the UK. According to the report, the gap between what west African PEPs pay for a UK education and what they can legitimately afford is a significant red flag. Relatively lax anti-money laundering rules in the British education sector mean that school administrators and admissions staff are potentially complicit in illegal flows of money.

The Director of the now-closed Christian University of Rwanda and the former Prime minister received a three-year jail sentence and a fine of RWF892.2 million (US$907,000) after he was found guilty of issuing cheques that bounced and for failing to pay the teaching and administrative staff. The Rwanda Investigation Bureau also arrested the former vice-Chancellor of the University of Kibungo for alleged nepotism and mismanagement of the university’s finances.

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture says there are three major kinds of corruption in the West Africa’s educational system: manipulation of girls, favouritism when it comes to admission into higher institutions and sex for marks. Young girls often fall prey to teachers, among others “who make the education sector the worst hit by corruption. A scholarship programme has been put in place in order to protect these young girls and strengthen the educational terrain.

According to Transparency International, 66 per cent of the money Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. Resource misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices are just some examples of the challenges the education systems is facing. This affects the quality of education, inclusion and learning outcomes with devastating consequences for national economic growth.