The Federal Government says it stands with its decision to void over 22,700 degree certificates obtained by Nigerians in some “fake” universities in neighbouring Togo and Benin Republic.

Education Minister Tahir Mamman, who was on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, said Nigerians who obtained degree certificates from such “illegal” tertiary institutions are denting Nigeria’s image.

He said the measure to invalidate degree certificates from illegal universities in the Benin Republic and Togo was not a harsh one as the authorities in the neighbouring Francophone West African countries also adjudged the concerned schools as fake.

Last year, an undercover journalist detailed how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic in under two months and in fact, deployed for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The Federal Government subsequently suspended the accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations and launched a probe.

On Friday, at a press conference to mark his one year in office, the minister said over 22,700 Nigerians obtained fake degree certificates from the two countries.

The minister said the revelation was part of a report submitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by a committee with a mandate to probe degree certificate racketeering by foreign and local universities in Nigeria.

During the programme on Sunday, the minister said the Federal Government only recognised three institutions in Togo, and five in Benin Republic while it tagged others as illegal institutions.

Mamman said many Nigerians parading the certificates from the “illegal schools” didn’t even leave the shores of Nigeria but got their certificates through racketeering in collaboration with government officials at home and abroad.

The minister said the “fake universities” capitalised on the “gullibility” of Nigerians who patronise such fake schools.

He said the offices of the Head of Civil Service and the Secretary of the Government of the Federation would prohibit and fish out those in the employment of the government with such fake certificates. He urged the private sector to follow suit. (Text, excluding headline: Channels TV)

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