Sunday, August 25, 2024-The Nigerian government has revealed that over 22,500 of its citizens are currently holding fake certificates acquired from universities in Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Prof
Tahir Mamman, saying over 21,600 obtained the certificates from
unaccredited universities in Benin Republic within the timeframe, while about
1105 obtained theirs from some unaccredited universities in Togo.
The minister, who disclosed this at a press conference to mark his first year
anniversary on Friday in Abuja, said 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.
“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,” he
said.
The minister said even within the countries, Benin and
Togo, the universities were not accreditated to offer degree programmes.
“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 added.
The minister, however, confirmed that a circular was
being prepared from the Office of Head of Service of the Federation that would
enable them fish out the 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. The circular from the Head of Service will also be
binding on private sector operators.”
He maintained that only five universities in Benin and
three in Togo, were accredited to offer degree programmes, adding that people
that passed through those schools are exempted from the punitive measures.
Meanwhile, the minister disclosed that about four million
out-of-school children had been pulled off the streets back to the classrooms
through several of its programmes mainly championed by the National
Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-school Children.
He said, “Our target is
to see about 3 to 4 million children leave the streets and return the school
annually, and if that is successfully achieved, then by the end of the
administration, significant achievements would have been made as regards the
out-of-school children.”
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