President orders a crackdown on ‘certificate mills’

In another attempt to safeguard the integrity of the higher education sector, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered several higher education regulatory bodies to clamp down on illegal tertiary institutions or ‘certificate mills’ undermining the credibility of the education sector in the country.

The regulatory bodies are the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, and the National Youth Service Corps, or NYSC.

Tinubu’s directive was delivered on his behalf by Dr Rakiya Ilyasu, the director of university education at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education, at the 14th convocation ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria in Abuja on 12 April.

In recent times, the government has taken several steps to crack down on unaccredited institutions. In January 2024, for instance, the NUC, the regulatory agency for universities, listed and suspended 58 institutions that have allegedly issued fake degrees.

Ambali Abdulkabeer, an academic and quality education advocate based in Nigeria, welcomed Tinubu’s directive.

Abdulkabeer said that a number of Nigerians who are desperate to go to school have fallen victims to institutions offering fake degrees, questioning why these institutions exist, despite Nigeria having several agencies regulating education affairs.

“This is long overdue, but it is significant. The order exemplifies the readiness of the administration to rid the country of illegal institutions, a step towards salvaging what’s left of Nigeria’s reputation.

“I am aware of non-Nigerians who have slammed our country as an enterprise of fake certificates. Many even shun coming here to study. The presidential order goes towards redeeming this image and making others feel confident in our system.”

Fake degrees invalidated

University World News reported in August 2024 how the government had invalidated 22,700 degree certificates bagged from unaccredited universities in Benin and Togo.

This followed an investigation by Umar Audu, a journalist of the Daily Nigerian, a local online newspaper, who procured a degree from a university in Benin within six weeks and used the certificate to participate in the one-year mandatory NYSC in Nigeria without being detected by the authorities.

At the end of 2024, the government also started to sack federal workers who allegedly obtained their degrees from Benin and Togo from 2017-24. The government withdrew its accreditation of qualifications obtained from these countries.

Folasade Boriowo, the federal ministry of education’s spokesperson, confirmed to University World News at the time that the government was set on firing civil servants who were found guilty of illegal procurement of degrees from Benin and Togo. She said: “There is no turning back on the issue and anybody who has a fake result will not be accepted in the country.” Boriowo did not indicate how many officials had been fired.

A letter to an employee, which was signed by a manager of the NYSC and seen by University World News, read:

“It is regrettable to inform you that the ESAE University, Benin, which you attended and [where you] obtained a BA International Relations, between 2014 and 2017 falls within the above-stated category [of employees who have to be fired]. In compliance with the Federal Government directive on the above, your appointment as Admin Officer II with NYSC is hereby terminated with immediate effect.”

Hassan Taiwo Soweto, an education expert and the national coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, said it was unfortunate that Nigerians opted for fake degrees, which was a threat to society.

“People with fake degrees are a threat to society as a whole and when they find their way into our public service. The result would be a collapse of our merit-based system, entrenched administrative corruption and retrogression in every sphere of governance. People with fake degrees defeat the merit of hard work and diligence, so their presence in the educational system is nothing short of a tragedy,” Soweto said.

But, he added: “The root cause of this kind of problem is the collapse of public education in Nigeria due to government anti-poor and pro-capitalist policies of education underfunding. This has led to a loss of faith in our educational system while promoting interest and desire in foreign education.

“As much as there are people who deliberately procure fake certificates, chances are that there may be unsuspecting victims of this racket who should actually be assisted and not vilified,” he noted, pleading that people who were tricked should get the opportunity to re-enrol in universities.