FAKE COTONOU DEGREE: HURIWA Calls for expansive internal cleansing 

Oru Leonard 

Following the uncovering by an investigative reporter of a Nigerian online newspaper about the existence of a certificate syndicate that specialises in obtaining for their paid clients, university degree certificates from some West African universities within months upon payments of certain fees, the Federal government has been called upon to widen the scope of its reaction to the story by identifying the top government officials in the education sector that compromised standards and permitted infiltration of persons with substandard qualification to do the one year National youth service corps (NYSC).

Describing as panicky, kangaroo and fire brigade measures, the steps taking so far by the National University Commission and the federal ministry of education in banning Universities in some West African subregional countries from being recognised in Nigeria, the Rights group stated that the first thing that should have been done was for both the Ministers of education, Youths development and the hierarchy of the NUC to collectively address Nigerians and apologise profusely for letting down quality control in such a way that holders of fake, irregular and substandard university degrees they obtained illicitly from some suspicious educational institutions in the West African nations to successfully infiltrate the National Youths Service Scheme in Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that the Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) announced the ban of 18 universities in some West African nations in a statement published on its website on Tuesday, citing an undercover investigation conducted by Umar Audu, who bagged a degree in Mass Communication from ESGT, a Benin university in Cotonou, within six weeks and participated in the mandatory one-year scheme organised by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The Rights group disclosed that NUC, the Nigerian regulatory body for higher education, explained that the Federal Government had not licensed the affected universities and they had been closed down for violating the country’s education standards.

“The National Universities Commission wishes to announce to the general public, especially parents and prospective undergraduates, that the under-listed “degree mills” have not been licenced by the Federal Government and have therefore been closed down for violating the Education (National Minimum Standards, etc.) Act of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004,” NUC said.

The Rights group recalled that the NUC disclosed that the affected universities span three countries: five from the United States, six from the United Kingdom, and three from Ghana.

An online newspaper indicated that in December 2022, its reporter reached out to a racketeering syndicate that specialises in selling the infamous degree certificates from the neighboring countries to willing buyers at an ‘affordable rate’.

The agent, the online newspaper said, however gave our reporter the option of “studying” for a year or month, but he opted for the month option.

“That’s not a problem; we can help. If the money is ready, we can help you out. We have done it for a lot of people. If you make the payment now, the results will be ready next month,” he assured.

Our reporter’s choice of mass communication from any “university” in Cotonou was premised on the fact he could easily scale through the screening as he had knowledge of the course.

The agent gave the reporter the breakdown of the amount to pay, which included tuition fees, an evaluation letter, a resident permit, immigration stamps at the border post and transportation, the online newspaper disclosed.

HURIWA however thinks that the measures adopted so far by the relevant Federal government agencies and ministries are not far-reaching enough because the Nigerian government has been busy chasing shadows and tackling the symptoms instead of the substance of the affliction which will be clinically achieved by identifying the top officials that compromised the standards.

HURIWA insisted that exposing, naming and shaming the top officials of the relevant Federal agencies in Nigeria is the most credible starting point because, it argued that the certificate syndicates wouldn’t have succeeded without internal conspiracy from the relevant ministries including the ministry of education just as the Rights group has asked the NYSC to nullify all the discharge certificates issued to persons who obtained such dubious certificates and successfully participated in the NYSC scheme prior to the groundbreaking media investigation.

The Rights grouo lamented that even the Department of State Services also failed in not detecting this spectacularly woeful demolition of quality control platforms of the NUC, the NYSC in such a scandalous scale that persons with dubious degrees have succeeded to infiltrate the governmental system in Nigeria which is a shocking sabotage of quality control in the country.

HURIWA has also asked the Federal government to confer national honours on both the publisher and the investigative reporter who uncovered the scams within the educational system of the West African nations.

Photo Credit: Legit