BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
Amidst rot in educational institutions, the Federal Government has disclosed that 22,789 Nigerians are in possession of fake certificates from Benin Republic and Togo universities.
This followed a report published on December 2023, detailing how an undercover journalist from a Nigerian-based media obtained a certificate from a neighbouring country in less than two months of enrolling in the university.
Specifically, the report indicted Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies (ESGT) Cotonou, Benin Republic for issuing the certificate.
But at a press conference on Friday in Abuja to mark his first anniversary in office, Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman directed that all degree certificates from Cotonou University issued between 2017 till date would be rendered invalid.
He stated that the decision was part of the recommendations by an inter-ministerial committee set up by the Federal Government to investigate the ESGT report.
The undercover journalist also used the certificate obtained from ESGT to enrol in the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) despite having participated in the scheme legitimately almost five years earlier.
Mamman said: "So what the FEC now approves is that, through the data, that NYSC has about 21,684 students that are parading fake certificates from Benin Republic, obtained between 2019 to 2023.
"Togo is about 1,105. How did that happen? They simply attend schools, which are not recognised in those countries."
The minister directed the termination of employment for workers both in the public and private sectors that possess counterfeit degree certificates acquired from the Republics of Benin and Togo.
"One of the things we did in the course of the year was — remember when information broke out about some of our students going to neighbouring countries —some not even going at all — to obtain certificates.
"The ministry set up a committee to look into that; the committee came up with a detailed review; that review was sent to the federal executive council about a month ago, which approved some of the recommendations from the ministry.
"Now the recommendations will be implemented along with other ministries and agencies affected, including NYSC and Immigration.
"Because we have to take some major decisions here, some staff who are affected faced disciplinary measures, and that the whole unit went through some kind of review.
"But by and large, we can’t have in our midst people who procure fake certificates and to compete with our students who graduated from our universities and polytechnics through their sweat, some spent four, five, six, or more years going out to compete with people who procure certificates right here without going anywhere, for a lot of them," he added.
Mamman continued: "The non-recognition itself is in those countries. They are not institutions recognised to offer degree programs in those countries.
"Instead, some of our parents take their wards to these institutions, and of course there is no way we would recognise qualifications which are not recognised in those countries.
"In the case of Togo, we have three universities that are officially approved and licensed to offer degrees, and in Benin, there are about five of them.
"So anyone who didn’t attend these universities is parading a fake certificate.
"And from 2017, anybody who attended a university solely run in English is wasting his time because it’s not an approved university. That is their policy.
"But a lot of our countrymen went there—some didn’t go anyway; remember, these numbers are just what we have, a lot of them didn’t even bother to go to NYSC.
"The number may be more. Some who attempted to but couldn’t succeed in the screening process disappeared into thin air.
"So in the final analysis, what the federal government approved is that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) will issue a circular to all employers, whether public or private, to fish out anybody with a certificate from these institutions—that circular probably would have been out by now.
“And the Head of Service, has also been mandated to fish out from the public service anybody who is parading certificate from these institutions.
“So this is the decision of the Federal Government on this matter”.
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