The fraudulent tales of Prof. Mark Okeji, the registrar/CEO of RRBN
By Naomi Onome
Sequel to allegations of fraud by some civil rights groups against Prof. Mark Okeji, the Registrar/CEO of the Radiography Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN), a parastatal of the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the former Chairman of the Board, Hon. AFK Bakare, it was found that the Registrar embezzled funds via various awarded contracts and ghost contracts, thereby falsifying figures simply by means of ‘contract inflation.’
It is also stated in the filed documents made available to Naomisophyblog that staff who wouldn’t comply with his fraudulent activities of imploring the use of different accounts not registered in his name to siphon cash were ostracized and transferred out of the board; some were labeled with certificate saga for their noncompliance. Only those who would allow his malicious attempt at fraudulent transactions remained in their offices untouched.
Looking into Prof. Mark Okeji’s array of fraudulent transactions, the record shows that:
There was an embezzlement arising from the purchase of official cars meant for the staff with inflated amounts rather than the actual cost; the award of contracts to friends and family members was majorly (99.9%) Igbo extractions with hundreds of millions in running costs, and none were delivered. “Moreover, it is learned through the Head of Procurement that the Registrar/CEO goes to the offices of these contractors to collect his own share in cash—this is well known to the staff of the Board.”
On the list is,
The construction of the Enough office and the construction of Abuja administrative HQ had inflated funding. Contracts were awarded to personal companies under the instruction of the Registrar/CEO, Prof. Mark Okeji, running in hundreds of millions, and this includes the renovation of the Ilesa zonal office and the AWKA zonal office. Consultancy services for the meeting of the heads of the Department of Radiography in Nigerian universities had an allocated sum of N2,108,185.65 unaccounted for.
There is an inflated contract of fraudulent personnel and a financial audit of the board from 2010 to 2017. This record shows that the immediate past chairman, Hon. AFK Bakare, of the board, in collaboration with the registrar/CEO of the board, engaged the services of an unqualified
A private firm (a marine service and logistics firm) located at 13 Agip Road, Rumueme, Portharcourt, conducted a fraudulent personnel audit of the board contrary to government BIZ. The private consultant, Anadigital Logistics Nig Ltd., is a marine firm that has no knowledge of human resource management; their controversial report is now being implemented in the board. Payment for service was made 7 times into different accounts provided by the immediate past chairman of the board, Hon. AFK Bakare, in collaboration with the Reg/CEO. – Prof. M. Okeji.
All the letters of request for funds show that they are at variance and likely forged; meanwhile, the power of attorney names and the signatures on the letters are fictitious! They are forged , not real! The civil rights group demands that the registrar and Afk Bakare produce the following fictitious names whose names and signatures appeared on the power of attorney: Faasema Richard, Conleth Igbakua Esq., Juventus Yitnoe, Folarim Yemi, Fedelis Adamgbe, and Gift Nwanfor. It is a fact that the immediate past chairman, AFK Bakare, is the main brain behind the unapproved Personnel & Financial Audit of the Board!, they said.
The computerization of the Radiography office from 2018 to 2023 has not been delivered yet the Board has been and is still receiving millions of naira in budgetary provisions running into hundreds of millions for the computerization of office activities since 2018 to date. The contractor (BLUEACE NIG LTD) paid these millions of naira into the Registrar’s purse. The Governing Board had warned the Registrar not to award a contract to Blue Ace Ltd. again, but he paid defiance to the board’s instruction for personal gain. The board has not been computerized to date.
The registrar encouraged the supply of inferior items and products to the store at over-inflated figures. However, while the staff of the board has no adequate and spacious office to perform their official duties, the registrar allocated three office spaces for stores, and irrelevant items in large volumes are supplied to the stores, e.g., graduation cones by one of the chiefs from his village. Most of the items and products supplied (desktops, laptops, and towels) to the store are very inferior in a bid to shorten a contractor’s fee, leaving them with no choice other than to supply inferior products in par with the funds given.
Projects yet to be completed while full funding has been paid are renovation of the seminar hall in the Enugu zonal office, computerization of the account department, institute and registration, and the contract for the creation of the index portal.
There were situations of unapproved and fraudulent foreign trips to Dubai, London, and the USA by Prof. Mark Okeji, who claimed a refund and payment running into hundreds of millions he is not entitled to. The aggrieved party instructs that Prof. Mark be made to produce his official invitations to the foreign trips, including approval letters from the HON, Minister of Health, showing he was released to embark on all the foreign trips. The group is also calling on the EFCC and other relevant government agencies to check his international passport, both old and new ones (since 2018 to date), to compare and confirm the journeys he has embarked upon so far.
It is said that the Registrar used embezzled funds to purchase a duplex in Gwarinpa, Abuja, and has a series of petitions written against him and the Chairman of the Board to the Code of Conduct Bureau, ICPC, EFCC, SGF, and FMOH. The registrar has boasted that with the type of connection he has in this government, especially at the National Assembly, SGF, and Ministry of Health (whom he claimed he induced with financial and material gifts and ensured he documented the same in the board financial records), he can never be prosecuted or removed from his position. ‘‘No amount of petition will convict me, because I ensure no money is paid directly to my account.’’ Prof. Mark said.
There is also the purchase of a family-used Toyota Hiace bus and Toyota car/diversion of funds to a private firm account. The registrar, in collaboration with a private firm, fraudulently diverted the sum of over N18m (rent refund) to purchase a fairly used Toyota Hiace bus and a Toyota Corolla car for the board in October 2023. This is virement! It is against government rules to purchase fairly used vehicles for its operations.
The money, which was a refund to the board on rent payment, was paid by the Accountant General’s office to a private firm account provided by the registrar. The registrar then collaborated with the private firm and diverted the funds released to purchase vehicles without due process for his selfish gains. No advertisement was placed either; the toothless and fearful ‘Tender Board’ was not involved. No approval was secured,nd it was not in the procurement plan for the year 2023. It is learned they recently conducted the Procurement Planning Committee meeting in March 2025 to include the purchase in their minutes of the meeting and backdated it.
According to the registrar, the refund was made to the private firm. The private firm took its own percentage and used the remaining(#18m) to buy the two fairly used vehicles! This is against the procurement rules. The Head of Procurement complained bitterly about the way and manner the Registrar went about the purchase process; he claimed he was schemed out by the Registrar.
More of Prof. Mark Okeji’s scheme is illegal staff recruitment; renovation and rehabilitation of newly allocated offices at the Federal Secretariat Abuja in 2019/2020 with payment of funding to different private accounts owned by civil servants (his mercenaries who later return funds to the Registrar in cash ) from 2018-2023; and massive withdrawal via fictitious contractors in the guise of Christmas and welfare packages and other means he employs to commit fraud in RRBN.
Naomisophyblog’s effort to reach the registrar proved abortive; he bluffed and threatened rather than give his own account of the allegations levied against him. Moreover, the civil rights group who put together the allegations have appealed to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to release the report of its investigation of the allegation of corruption leveled against the Radiography Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN).
