Certificate Racketeering: Benin, Togo issue fake certificates to over 22,500 Nigerian students
Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, disclosed on Friday, that over 22, 500 Nigerians are parading fake certificates obtained from Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.
He said that over 21, 600 obtained the certificates from an unaccredited universities in Benin Republic within the time frame, while about 1,105 also obtained theirs at some unaccredited Universities in Togo.
The minister disclosed this at his official one year in office press conference in Abuja.
He added that some of the numbers were harvested from records from the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and other sources.
“From all indications, the figure is higher than what we have already. This is because some of the people choose not to participate in the mandatory NYSC scheme and other engagements that would have enabled us to harvest their data,” Tahir said.
“Sadly, these people have used the fake certificates to apply and secure job opportunities in government and private organizations with the mindset that they schooled abroad, while people who studied day and night are out there looking for job opportunities.
“Even within the countries, Benin and Togo, these universities are not accredited to offer degree programme. I don’t know how Nigerians chose to go to unaccredited institutions abroad to ‘study’. Our investigations also indicated that many of the people never even attended the school physically. ”
The Minister, however, confirmed that a circular is being prepared from the Office of Head of Service of the Federation that would enable the fish out of these people for due prosecution.
“Private sector operators are also encouraged to carry out further investigations on their staff who are parading foreign certificates, and ensure that anyone parading a certificate obtain from these countries between 2019 and 2023 are fished out and handed over to the Federal Ministry of Education for prosecution. Because the circular from the Head of Service will also be binding on private sector operators.”
Nevertheless, he confirmed that only five Universities in Benin and three in Togo, were accredited to offer degree programmes, and people that passed through those schools are exempted from the punitive measures.
Recall a former Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today in January, had accused Francophone West African countries of benefitting from issuing dubious degrees to Nigerians.
He was reacting to the suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo by the Nigerian government following a report detailing how a degree was acquired from a university in Benin Republic in under two months.
The ex-NUC Secretary said, “Many of these francophone countries have benefited so much from the dubious degrees they give to Nigerians and that is why Africa cannot achieve the same level of mobility that people enjoy in Europe under the Erasmus programme.”
“There is no victim, all those people with these certificates are clear-headed crooks who knew what they were paying for because some of them are people who cannot pass the UTME, and some do not have five O-level credits.
