The Federal Government has made a stern declaration to weed out individuals holding fraudulent certificates, whether in public or private educational institutions across the nation.
This assertion came from the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, during an event on Friday in Abuja, where he received the findings of an investigative committee tasked with examining the prevalence of fake degree certificates.
Established on January 9th, the Inter-Ministerial Committee was assigned the crucial duty of investigating allegations of degree racketeering within both domestic and foreign private universities.
Chaired by Prof. Jubrila Amin, the committee’s mandate extended to scrutinizing the involvement of government bodies or officials in the procurement or recognition of these dubious certificates.
Expressing dismay over the revelations uncovered during the investigations, Prof. Mamman emphasized the ministry’s commitment to collaborating with relevant agencies to cleanse the education sector of fraudulent practices. He sternly warned that any government official found complicit would face legal consequences.
The minister underscored the urgency of restoring integrity to the education system, lamenting instances where individuals with mediocre academic performances from Nigerian institutions present themselves with counterfeit international certificates, masquerading as high achievers.
“We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education soar by some few persons.”
“It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations who needs to be flushed out. This report is a product of a thorough investigation.”
In presenting the committee’s report, Prof. Jubrila Amin decried the dismal standards observed in some educational institutions, labeling them as blights on the educational landscape.
He advocated for swift interventions and called for the digitization and automation of educational processes to enhance oversight and accountability.
Amin highlighted the inadequacies in the current accreditation and evaluation systems, stressing the need for more rigorous measures to ensure the authenticity of academic credentials.
He also urged for the expansion of the university system to accommodate the growing demand for higher education, thus reducing the reliance on foreign institutions where individuals are susceptible to obtaining fake credentials.
Moreover, Amin urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to intensify its scrutiny of institutions offering part-time or sandwich programs to prevent a recurrence of previous incidents where unaccredited courses were offered.
“People go and get fake degrees and we have been to those countries and we know what a proper degree looks like, we know what the fake one looks like.”
He emphasized the importance of discerning between legitimate and counterfeit degrees, calling for stringent measures to verify the authenticity of certificates obtained from certain institutions.
“We have given it to the ministry to scrutinise anyone presenting a certificate from those institutions and anything else is fake.”
