The Federal Government says only eight universities in Togo and Benin Republic have been granted accreditation to confer degrees on Nigerian students.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced this on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics programme aired on Sunday evening.
Persecondnews recalls that Mamman announced last Friday, at a press conference commemorating his one-year anniversary in office, that approximately 22,500 Nigerians had acquired fraudulent degree certificates from universities in Togo and Benin Republic and that these certificates would be invalidated.
According to the minister, the information was contained in a report presented to the Federal Executive Council by a committee tasked with investigating the issuance of fake degree certificates by both foreign and local universities operating in Nigeria.
The undercover investigation report, he continued, detailed how a Nigerian journalist earned a degree from a Benin Republic university in less than two months and used it to join the National Youth Service Corps.
On the programme, the minister said the federal government has officially recognized three universities in Togo and five in the Benin Republic, while designating all other institutions in these countries as unauthorised.
He identified the following public universities in Togo as the federal government-approved institutions for Nigerian students to pursue degree programmes:
1. Universite De Lome
2. Universite De Kara
3. Catholic University of West Africa
The minister also listed five accredited universities authorized to provide degree programs in Benin Republic of Benin for students from Nigeria.
1. Universite D’abomey-Calavi
2. Universite De Parakou
3. Universite Nationale Des Sciences, Technologis Ingenierie Et Mathematiques
4. Universite Nationale D’ Agriculture
5. Universite Africaine De Devlopment Cooperatif
The minister reaffirmed that the federal government’s decision to annul approximately 22,700 degrees obtained by Nigerians from certain “unauthorized” universities in Togo and Benin Republic is final and irreversible.
Mamman defended the decision to annul the certificates, stating that it was not excessive, as the possession of degrees from such “unauthorized” institutions by Nigerians tarnishes the country’s reputation.
He said: “Most of those parading the fake certificates didn’t even leave the shores of Nigeria but got their certificates through racketeering in collaboration with government officials at home and abroad.
“The “fake universities” capitalised on the “gullibility” of Nigerians patronising such fake schools.
“The federal government, through the offices of the Head of Civil Service and the Secretary of the Federation, would fish out those in the government’s employment with such fake certificates. I also urge the private sector to follow suit.”
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