Scholars of Social Science, History and Literature are conversant with the outstanding contributions of renowned intellectuals in the universities of Makerere, Dar Es Salam and Nairobi, in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya respectively. They include Ali Mazrui, Mahmud Mamdani and Ngugi Wa Thiongo.
The universities reigned at the same time with first-generation universities in Nigeria like Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), University of Ibadan (UI) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). Unfortunately, Kenya and Uganda are among the five countries the Nigerian government is beaming its searchlight on their certificates.
Fake certificates are not new in Nigeria. For example, when I was admitted to Bayero University Kano in 1981, there was an office in-charge of verification of certificates and any time a list of students invited to the office was pasted, they were considered on their way out of the university mostly because of fake certificates.
But most of the affected students were not honouring the invitation. They just pack and leave quietly. In the words of a monkey that was chased out of a banana plantation: “Na san maganar” (I know why).
Perhaps because Nigerians are hungry, angry and thirsty for blood, they are perceiving the report of the Daily Nigerian on the fake certificates obtained in , Republic of Benin, as something new, for which blood must be drawn.
Undoubtedly, the report is a good wake-up call to the Nigerian government on the proliferation of fake certificates in the country. Also, the decision of the government to set up a committee on the issue is commendable.
However, there is a danger of blanket condemnation of certificates obtained in the five countries under consideration: Togo, Benin, Niger, Kenya and Uganda. I was a registrar of a higher institution in Nigeria, therefore, aware of the diligent efforts of higher institutions in the country to protect their certificates.
I want to believe that there is no government-approved higher institution in the world that will take the forging of its certificates lightly because a certificate is to a higher institution what a national currency is to a country.
There are three likely explanations of fake certificates in Nigeria and other parts of the world. First, fake certificates are awarded by institutions not approved by the government.
Second, syndicates which connive with staff of approved institutions to produce fake certificates sometimes with the official certificates of the institutions, but in all cases, without official approval.
Third, criminals who sell fake certificates without conniving with officials of any institution. They study the official certificates and produce their fake versions for interested buyers.
Many French lecturers in Nigeria obtained their certificates from French-speaking West African countries like Benin and Togo. They have also furthered their education by obtaining postgraduate degrees in recognised European universities, especially in France.
It will be irresponsible to rubbish their certificates because some people were found forging certificates from the countries. We should never allow mischief-makers thirsty for blood to do that. Should other countries reject all the certificates of the ABU, the UI and the UNN whenever some people are caught with their forged certificates?
The concept of “small is beautiful” is working in the universities of the Francophone countries in West Africa. They have a robust curriculum which encourages learning of other international languages, especially English. This is why most of their graduates, in addition to French, can also communicate in simple English, unlike Nigerian graduates who can only communicate in English.
Also, their lecturers hardly go on strike like what is obtained in Nigerian universities, and you hardly find their students hanging outside overcrowded lecture theatres pretending to be listening to the lecturers who rely on their voices rather than the microphone.
The challenges of education in Nigeria go beyond fake certificates, which can be easily detected using technology, and the culprits punished, if there is the will to do so. But without compromising standards, Nigerians must embrace the flexibility of acquiring education beyond the colonial mentality of a minimum of four years.
For example, as far back as the 1970s, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Nigeria’s Vice President in the Second Republic, obtained three degrees in Law, Architecture and Sociology in an American university almost at the same time because multiple registration was allowed. Their emphasis has been on the capacity to cope with the demands of covering the course contents at the same time.
Of course, Ekwueme was a professional and intellectual by any standard, especially as an architect who made his name in the cosmopolitan Lagos.
Unfortunately for Nigerians, the world is moving towards capacity in skills not certificates. But even after wasting four years in the university, many Nigerian graduates cannot justify their certificates. Sad. Very sad indeed.
Dikko wrote from Abuja