The intervention of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) in the education sector got a boost when it successfully prosecuted and secured a conviction against a former top officer of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, in Kwara State, Iliya Philemon Hassan, for presenting a fake Master’s Degree certificate to his employers and for perjury.
Hassan, a former Director of Works at the Polytechnic, was sentenced to three months for each offence and fined N150,000 for falsely claiming to have a Master’s Degree in his curriculum vitae.
A statement signed by the commission’s head of media, Folu Olamiti, and made available to Newsmen Friday, said an Ilorin High Court presided over by the Chief Judge of the State, Justice J. Bamigbola, sent Hassan to jail on June 25, 2013, after he was found guilty on a three-count charge of lying. Hassan had claimed in his resume, submitted to the Registrar of the Federal Polytechnic, that he had a Master’s Degree in Building Construction Technology from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU).
The offence is punishable under Section 25 of the ICPC Act, 2000. The accused will spend his jail term in Madala Prison in Ilorin and the sentence is to run concurrently.
