Nigerian students numbering about 124 are seeking in excess of 1 million cedis in damages against the Synergies Infotech Ghana Ltd, authorised partner of the Mahatma Ghandi University (MGU) in Ghana for alleged university admission fraud. The students are also suing the National Accreditation Board for dereliction of duty.
In a writ filed at an Accra High Court, the five plaintiffs suing for
themselves and on behalf of all other plaintiffs say the Mahatma Ghandi University in Ghana, affiliated to the MGU in India took monies from them with the promise of providing quality higher learning in a credible and recognized foreign university. The students having seen the adverts enrolled to pursue the Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Information Communication Technology and paid an amount of $1,000 and $1,400 each as non-refundable admission fees per semester.
According to the writ the plaintiffs paid an amount of $89,750.00 for their school fees for the period. They also claimed to have incurred costs in accommodation and travel expenses in and out of Ghana at the start and end of each semester, a total of which amounted to GH¢55,499.00. Having honored their part of the contractual obligation, the plaintiffs claim the eight defendants- the MGU and officials acting on its behalf- have reneged on their obligation to them.
They claim the defendants have “failed, neglected and or refused to properly conduct both internal and external examinations” and on occasions when they attempted to organise external examinations, the questions were “photocopies or error-riddled question and answer sheets previously used by the MGU, India.”
The plaintiffs aver those error-riddled examinations were not supervised by any certified examination council-WAEC in breach of the defendants’ contractual and legal obligations to the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs claim that even after going ahead to write the exams, the defendants have failed to produce results for the exams written. The plaintiffs also claim the defendants in flagrant breach of their contract would later threaten and compel them to sign fresh documents transferring them into a certain Amity University, also in India as the alternative host institution to graduate from or risk losing their studentship without any refunds. Even the said transfer process has failed to yield any fruit, the students insist.
On account of the alleged fraudulent actions by the defendants, the plaintiffs are jointly seeking an amount of GH¢ 1,418,300 in special damages for internal transport fares, rent, water and electricity; GH¢168,950.00 in damages for external transportation fares; a refund of GH¢ 55,499.00 being school fees and a refund of $89,750 being school fees.
The plaintiffs are also bringing a suit against the National Accreditation Board for continuing to endanger the plaintiffs and unsuspecting prospective students by accrediting the MGU without the necessary due diligence.
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