Nothing can be more vicious to a nation than a dysfunctional system that freely allows citizens to bear out their desperation, in this case, for university degrees. The revelations divulged in a recent exclusive report by a Daily Nigerian investigative journalist, Umar Audu, illustrate how criminal syndicates exploit the corrupt tendencies among government officials to the proliferation of fake degree certificates issued by substandard universities in neighbouring francophone countries.
The report shows how anybody could quickly and easily become a ‘graduate’ in less than one month by procuring a fake degree certificate from any of the sham universities in Benin Republic and Togo. Contrary to requirements by Nigerian universities, the number of credits in the ordinary level result and a Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME) result are both irrelevant. The key prerequisite is having enough money to pay for the fake degree. The amount charged by racketeers depends on the buyer’s desperation and the class of degree requested.
Audu, the undercover journalist, reached out to one of the fake certificates’ syndicates in December 2022 and was offered the option of “studying” for a year or month. He chose the one-month option for a degree in mass communication. The agent swiftly reassured the journalist, saying, “We have done it for a lot of people. If you make the payment now, the results will be ready next month.” A breakdown of the amount that needed to be paid was given to the reporter. The money was paid on December 27, 2022, and by February 17, 2023, the certificate and transcript of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Cotonou, Benin Republic, were delivered.
Amazingly, the transcript issued in Audu’s name showed that he commenced studies at the institution in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022. Immigration officials were bribed to stamp Audu’s passport to show evidence of multiple entry and exit from Seme Border between 2018 and 2022. The entire process that saw the issuance of the fake degree certificate began and ended without the journalist knowing anything about admission, registration, matriculation, examination, graduation, or even crossing the Nigerian border into Benin Republic; a confirmation that the syndicate consists of top management of the universities in Cotonou and their Nigerian collaborators.
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The journalist’s genuine fears were allayed when he confirmed from the website of ESGT University that he’s a genuine ‘graduate’ of the institution. It’s discreditable enough for the Department of Sate Service, an intelligence agency, to claim to be unaware of this more-than-a-decade-old criminality. If the DSS knew but refused to smash the syndicates, they owe Nigerians explanations on why they did not take action on a matter that has clear implications for national security.
The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) in a letter to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) cleared Audu along with other 51 ESGT ‘graduates’ to participate in the compulsory one-year national service; stating that “the bachelor degrees awarded to the students as indicated on the attached list are equivalent to bachelor degrees awarded by any Nigerian university in a similar field of study.” This could be a product of criminal alliance between agents of these mushroom universities with some corrupt officials at the FME who provide evaluation letters for a fee, or at best criminal negligence for not vetting the universities before giving a stamp of approval on their degrees. Based on the letter, Audu was posted by the NYSC to Cross River State. He arrived at Obubra orientation camp on Sunday, November 26, 2023.
The swift reaction to the Daily Nigerian’s report by the FME to suspend the evaluation of degree certificates from Benin and Togo and the sealing by the National Universities Commission (NUC) of 58 illegal study centres operating as universities in Nigeria does not absolve them from indictment. The NUC is now so engrossed in revenue generation through its over-concentration on the licencing of private universities and the accreditation of academic programmes that it seems to have forgotten its other equally important statutory mandates. More shocking is how a fraudulent university, such as the ESGT in Cotonou, is on the FME’s list of accredited institutions.
We urge the federal government to probe all the agencies involved in evaluating foreign certificates with a view to prosecuting racketeers. The NYSC should in addition to saving applicants’ phone numbers and email addresses on its portal, capture their biometric data, including fingerprints. This would preclude an applicant from being mobilised twice. Being a part of the global village, modern technology should be deployed by the FME to evaluate foreign degree certificates.
Parents who irresponsibly support their children to purchase fake degrees from Benin Republic and Togo should know their actions stand condemned. We, therefore, call for the immediate auditing of all foreign degree certificates acquired in the past 10 or 15 years from universities in neighbouring West African countries. All those exposed by the audit report as possessing fake degrees should be relieved of their appointments, however highly placed.
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