FG vows to prosecute dubious degree certificate holders, purveyors

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has said that security agencies will go after individuals with fake university certificates in the country.

According to the minister, the individuals will be tracked after the committee set up by the Federal government to investigate the activities of university certificate racketeers in the country submits its report.

The Federal government set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers following an investigative media report, which exposed the activities of degree mills in the Benin Republic.

Journalist Umar Audu revealed through hi report how he obtained a degree within six weeks and even proceeded to enroll in the National Youth Service Corps scheme back in Nigeria.

The report, which exposed the illegalities perpetrated by some tertiary institutions in the West African countries, led to the Nigerian government to ban the accreditation and evaluation of degrees obtained from Benin Republic and Togo.

The committee set up by the Federal government is also tasked with investigating Nigerian private universities established in the last 15 years.

Recently, the committee invited memoranda from the public. Selected members of the committee also visited institutions in the Benin Republic.

While speaking at the first quarterly citizens’ engagement in Abuja on Tuesday, Prof Mamman, said: “On the issue of the fake degrees, we set up a committee and we expect them to submit their reports soon. Once the report is submitted, I can assure you that individuals with fake certificates will be apprehended. They will be tracked by security agencies.”

Also speaking at the engagement, the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tanko Sununu, noted that the quarterly citizenship engagement was aimed at creating awareness of the activities of the ministry.

He noted that the engagement would “also promote mutual understanding with stakeholders and citizens, build and sustain public trust, and improve transparency and accountability in the sector.”

“Worthy of mention is that this engagement also aims to improve efficiency and streamline government operations by identifying and addressing bottlenecks,” Sununu said.

* Media Report