Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has disclosed that over 22,500 Nigerians are parading fake certificates obtained from universities in Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.
He said over 21,600 obtained the certificates from an unaccredited universities in Benin Republic within the timeframe, while about 1,105 obtained theirs from some unaccredited universities in Togo.
This is coming after an undercover investigation by a journalist revealed how he obtained a degree within six weeks and even proceeded to embark on mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service.
The minister, who disclosed this at a press conference to mark his first year anniversary on Friday in Abuja, said some of the numbers were harvested from records from the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and other sources.
“From all indications, the figure is higher than what we have already. This is because some of the people choose not to participate in the mandatory NYSC scheme and other engagements that would have enabled us to harvest their data.
“Sadly, these people have used the fake certificates to apply and secure job opportunities in government and private organizations with the mindset that they schooled abroad, while people who studied day and night are out there looking for job opportunities,” he said.
The minister said even within the countries, Benin and Togo, these universities are not accreditated to offer degree programmes.
“I don’t know how Nigerians chose to go to unaccredited institutions abroad to ‘study’. Our investigations also indicated that many of the people never even attended the school physically,” he added.
