Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman (file image)
Minister: 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
By Woke Odueme
Nigerian government is to prosecute over 22,500 Nigerians with fake certificates obtained from universities in Benin Republic and Togo and Benin Republics.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, who disclosed this, explained that no fewer than 21,600 Nigerians obtained the certificates from an unaccredited universities in Benin Republic within the timeframe, while about 1,105 obtained theirs from some unaccredited universities in Togo.
The minister stated this in Abuja, while marking his first year anniversary in office. He assured that the affected Nigerians whether in the public or private sector would be prosecuted.
The minister further disclosed that information from the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) records and other sources indicated an alarming figure.
His words: “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.
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“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.
“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.”
He said that a circular was being prepared from the Office of Head of Service of the Federation that would enable them fish out those parading themselves 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. The circular from the Head of Service will also be binding on private sector operators.”
He said that only five universities in Benin and three in Togo were accredited to offer degree programmes.
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