Despite the stern warning handed down by the Cross River State government, the College of Health Technology Calabar is still allegedly collecting unapproved levies.

About two weeks ago, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Henry Egbe Ayuk, came down hard against alleged illegal levies imposed on students at the Ogoja College of Nursing Sciences, describing the situation as an outrageous abuse of trust and a betrayal of government standards.

A viral video, widely circulated on social media, had exposed what appeared to be extortion of students, backed by no evidence of payments.

The scandal had ignited widespread outrage among parents, students, and the general public, with many calling for urgent action.

As a result, the commissioner issued a directive ordering an immediate stop to the illegal collections across all state health institutions.

He further mandated that all unjustified payments be fully refunded to the affected students without excuses.

The Health Commissioner, enraged by the revelations, announced that a full panel of inquiry would be established to unearth the depth of the rot and bring the perpetrators to book.

He had advised that any institution engaged in such shameful acts must halt them immediately and return all illegal collections to the victims.

However, findings at the College of Health Technology, Calabar, revealed that lecturers and examiners have paid no heed to the warning.

Students in both the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma, taking part in the ongoing examinations, are allegedly being compelled to individually cough out between N10,000 and N15,000 to lecturers to ‘sort’ courses, else they risk failing such courses.

More findings revealed that several others are also compelled to buy handouts or books authored by particular lecturers, which, they claimed, they had already bought in previous classes.

Some of the students complained that the extortion had continued, adding that they had complained several times to the school authorities, including heads of departments, for intervention, to no avail.

The students said a few days ago, they had challenged a particular lecturer who came to the exam class, insisting that they must each pay N15,000 for his course or risk failure.

“We see this as significant extortion. Many of us have paid our school fees and other official charges, like departmental fees, yet we are still burdened with compulsory and illegal fees that we can’t afford.

“In our class, we are over 50. If you multiply N15,000 by that number, you will be surprised by the staggering amount somebody will go home with, an amount that is not their monthly salary.

“Of course, some of us have stamped our feet. We won’t pay. We’ll resist intimidation and excessive extortion,” one of them said.

Another female student alleged that many of the lecturers hardly attended classes, yet they would demand money to ‘sort’ their courses.

According to him, there is too much corruption in the school.

An official in the office of the provost, who gave his name as Dr John, denied that the school authorized such illegal extortion.

“It is not true that the school authorities have knowledge of such demands allegedly placed by some lecturers.

“The school has usually cautioned against any form of extortion.

“I am sure that such allegations will be looked into by the school”, he said.