Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, said, “We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo.”
The Nigerian government has said it will be extending the suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates to more countries like Uganda, Kenya and Niger Republic.
Earlier, the government announced the suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo following an undercover report by a Nigerian journalist with Daily Nigerian newspaper detailing how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic under two months and was deployed for the National Youth Service Corps.
Apart from suspending the accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations, the government also launched an investigation into it with the minister saying its report should be submitted in three months.
Featuring on a Channels TV programme, on Wednesday, Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, said, “We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo.”
He added, “We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up."
Mamman said students who patronise such institutions were not victims but criminals.
“I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” he said, adding that security agents would go after those with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure opportunities in Nigeria.
On the issue of student loans, the minister said, “The President has given his word that it will be operational from this quarter and the committee is working very hard to ensure that the president’s word is implemented.”