January 8, 2024 (GIN) – Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) claims to have uncovered dozens of fake college degrees for Nigerian students from Kenya and Uganda.
This finding follows the recent suspension of accreditation for degrees obtained from institutions in Benin and Togo.
During an interview on Nigeria’s Channels Television, Education Minister Tahir Mamman said, “We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo. We’re going to extend the dragnet to Uganda, Kenya, even Nigeria—here where such fake institutions have been set up.”
This move is a response to the revelation of fraudulent qualifications from foreign degree mills, as exposed by the Daily Nigerian newspaper. In an undercover investigation, reporter Umar Audu detailed how he acquired a degree for a four-year program from a Benin university in under two months.
“I have no sympathy for those with fake certificates from foreign countries,” said Mamman. “They are not victims but part of the criminal chain [who] should be arrested.”
The federal government has been urged to fish out those occupying top management offices with fake university degrees and other certificates.
According to the former NUC secretary, francophone West African nations have been benefiting by offering dubious degrees to Nigerians.
Holders of fake degrees are partly responsible for the nation’s backwardness, said Alhaji Musa Saidu of the International Human Rights Commission.
Elsewhere in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a corruption watchdog, raided the offices of Dangote Industries Limited last month, carting away documents from the main office.
The Dangote Group is led by billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. He accused the EFCC of seeking to cause “unwarranted embarrassment” in a probe into favorable exchange rates handed out by the country’s former central bank chief, according to the Financial Times.
The Dangote Group has interests in cement, sugar, salt, and flour. They said they were not aware of any accusations of wrongdoing against any company under their umbrella.
The Dangote Group is one of 52 companies to receive letters from the anti-corruption agency seeking documents since 2014. Dangote is worth around $14 billion, but may have fallen out of favor with the current administration.
The raid was the latest salvo in a widening probe into former central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, who has been accused of fraud and mismanagement of billions of naira.Regarded as one of the most powerful government officials in Nigeria when he led the bank, Emefiele spent nine years overseeing Nigeria’s monetary policy affairs, which was ended by Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, shortly after Tinubu took office in May.
Emefiele is accused of operating a highly contentious regime with multiple exchange rates that a special investigator, appointed by Nigeria’s president, has allegedly enabled the bank to disburse scarce foreign exchange reserves at an artificially low rate to favored industries and individuals.
Meanwhile, Chidi Odinkalu of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that he doubted the investigation into the central bank suggested an era of better government under Tinubu. On the contrary, he suggested, the president has spent large sums of money on supplying legislators with four-wheel drive vehicles costing up to $150,000 each.
“Rather than reduce the cost of administration,” he said, “they’ve bloated it.”
The recent uncovering of fake degrees in Uganda and Kenya by Nigeria’s National Universities Commission highlights a grave educational fraud. Such deceit not only undermines the credibility of qualifications but also hampers economic and social development. It’s crucial for authorities to intensify their crackdown on such fraudulent activities to preserve educational integrity.