The Management of the Rivers State University has said a man identified as Phillip Odereghi, who was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding job seekers sizable sums of money, is not an employee of the institution.
With the false promise of getting them jobs at the school, Odereghi is accused of defrauding at least 15 people. In order to gain their trust, he pretended to be an employee of the university.
A few of his victims confronted him when they finally caught up with him at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital after several months, but they were quickly stopped by hospital security staff who intervened and handed him over to the police.
Some of his victims claimed that he took between N250,000 and N450,000 from them in exchange for jobs at the state-owned institution, which they later discovered was a scam.
Phillip Odereghi’s claim to be a member of the school’s staff, according to the university’s registrar, Dr. Sydney Eyindah, was flat-out false.
Dr. Eyindah noted that the university was not recruiting but added that RSU ended its employment in 2022 in accordance with state government approval.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Orowororukwo, Port Harcourt has been drawn to a news item on Tuesday 17th October 2023 wherein one Phillip Odereghi was apprehended by the Nigeria Police for defrauding unsuspecting job seekers
“The said Phillip Odereghi had claimed to be a staff of the Rivers State University. This is therefore a disclaimer to inform the general public that Phillip Odereghi is not a staff of our University and cannot act on behalf of the university.
“He is a dangerous impostor and has no relationship whatsoever with the Rivers State University.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the university has since last year concluded its employment exercise as approved by the Rivers State Government. The general public is advised to be apprehensive of such characters as Phillip Odereghi so as not to fall prey to fraudsters.”
