Degree mills: FG vows to flush out fake certificate holders

The Federal Government has pledged to flush out persons in public and private organisations working with fake certificates.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, made the vow when he received the report of an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling from the Chairman of the committee, Prof. Jubrila Amin, in Abuja on Friday, May 3, 2024.

The minister had, on January 9, inaugurated the committee to examine the veracity of allegations of degrees racketeering in foreign and local private universities.

The committee was mandated to review the role of any agency or its officials in the facilitation of the recognition and procurement of fake certificates.

Mamman, who expressed sadness over what has been uncovered during the investigations, said the ministry would work with relevant agencies to sanitise the education sector and rid it of any fake tendencies.

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He said: “We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education soar by some few persons.

“It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations who need to be flushed out. This report is a product of a thorough investigation.

“It is sad that someone who should come out from a Nigerian institution with a 2:1 or 2:2 is now parading an international certificate of first class.

“The ministry is determined to take steps to sanitise the system.”

Mamman also pledged to take a decisive role to ensure standards were enshrined in the system saying: “We can’t afford to let down our country when it comes to standards.”

Presenting the report, Amin decried the standards of education in those schools, saying many of them awarding degree certificates were an eyesaw.

Amin said the problems at hand required speedy intervention, recommending that all agencies in the sector must digitise/automate their system.

He said automating the entire education system was a way to go in such a way that one could sit in the office and monitor what is happening in all tertiary institutions.

“In the course of our investigation, we realise that the present programme of accreditation and evaluation of results is inadequate,” the committee chairman said.

The Star