The Federal Government has moved to tackle the issue of fake academic degrees in the country’s education system with the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee.
The Director, Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja.
“Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, will this afternoon, inaugurate an inter-ministerial committee on degree mills,” Goong said.
It was earlier reported that the issue of fake degrees has been trending in the country, following an investigation by a reporter, Umar Audu, with the Daily Nigerian newspaper on the activities of degree mills in Benin Republic and Togo.
The reporter disclosed how he obtained a degree within six weeks and even proceeded to embark on mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, scheme.
Audu, who reached out to the syndicate that specialises in selling degree certificates in December 2022, graduated in February 2023 and was issued a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The report which uncovered the illegalities perpetrated by some tertiary institutions in the West African states led to the Nigerian government imposing a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo.
The Education minister later said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration would further extend its searchlight to institutions in other African countries such as Ghana.
So far, no fewer than 10,900 Nigerian students studying in Beninois and Togolese universities are expected to be affected by the Nigerian government ban, according to statistics provided by the National Association of Nigerian Students in Benin Republic and Togo.
Also, the National Universities Commission, the regulatory body of universities in Nigeria, revealed that no fewer than 18 out of the 58 universities whose operations have been suspended in Nigeria are foreign-owned.
