- The Federal Government has announced that all university certificates obtained from institutions in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and Togo between 2017 and the present will be considered invalid
- The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, made the announcement on behalf of the federal government
- He urged all affected individuals to seek alternative means of verifying their qualifications or face the loss of their jobs
The Federal Government has announced that all university certificates obtained from institutions in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and Togo from 2017 to date will be considered invalid.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, during a press briefing on Thursday, August 22, to mark his first anniversary in office. Mamman further revealed that these initiatives were sanctioned in a recent meeting of the federal executive council, which was presided over by President Bola Tinubu.
The minister further revealed that all federal government employees currently working with certificates from these countries will be dismissed from service. This decision is part of the government's ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of the nation’s educational system and ensure that all qualifications held by public servants meet recognised standards.
He said, “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, Immigration. Because we have to make some major decisions here, some staff who are affected faced disciplinary measures, and 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 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.
“So what the FEC now approves is that, through the data that NYSC has, about 21,684 students are parading fake certificates from Benin Republic obtained between 2019 and 2023.
“Togo is about 1,105. How did that happen? They simply attend schools which are not recognised in those countries. Remember, this point is extremely important. 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. This action is necessary to protect the quality of education in Nigeria and prevent the employment of unqualified individuals within the federal workforce,” Mamman added.
The directive is expected to have far-reaching implications, particularly for those who have acquired degrees from these regions and are currently employed in the public sector.
The government has urged all affected individuals to seek alternative means of verifying their qualifications or face the consequences as outlined in the new policy.
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