FG okays dismissal of workers with fake degree certificates from Cotonou, Togo
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Friday, August 23, 2024, declared all degree certificates from Cotonou University issued between 2017 and the present day fake and therefore rendered invalid.
The government resolved that Nigeria cannot have people who procure fake certificates competing with genuine Nigerian students who graduated from nation’s universities and polytechnics through their hard sweat, spending four, five, six, or more years.
Towards this end, all personnel currently employed by the Federal Government will automatically lose their jobs as they would be terminated with immediate effect.
In the same vein, the federal government has also directed the immediate termination of employees in both the public and private sectors who possess counterfeit degree certificates acquired from the Republics of Benin and Togo.
Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, who stated the position of the government at a press conference marking his one-year anniversary in office, said the initiatives were sanctioned in a recent meeting of the Federal Executive Council which was presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Mamman said that following information that broke out about some of our students going to neighbouring countries and some not even going at all, to obtain certificates, the federal ministry of Education set up a committee to look into it.
In the words of Mamman; “The committee came up with a detailed review. That review was sent to the Federal Executive Council about a month ago, which approved some of the recommendations from the ministry.
“Now the recommendations will be implemented along with other ministries and agencies affected, including the NYSC, and Immigration Service.
“Because we have to take some major decisions here, some staff who are affected faced disciplinary measures, and that the whole unit went through some kind of review.
“We can’t have in our midst people who procure fake certificates to compete with our students who graduated from our universities and polytechnics through their sweat, some spent four, five, six, or more years going out to compete with people who procure certificates right here without going anywhere.
“So, what the FEC approved is that, through the data, that NYSC has, about 21,684 students that are parading fake certificates from Benin Republic, obtained between 2019 to 2023.
“Togo is about 1,105. How did that happen? They simply attend schools, which are not recognised in those countries.
“Remember, this point is extremely important. The non-recognition itself is in those countries. They are not institutions recognised to offer degree programs in those countries.
“Instead, some of our parents, take their wards to these institutions, and of course there is no way we would recognise qualifications which are not recognised in those countries.
“In the case of Togo, we have three universities that are officially approved and licensed to offer degrees, and in Benin, there are about five of them.
“So anyone who didn’t attend these universities is parading a fake certificate.
“And from 2017, anybody who attended a university solely run in English is wasting his time because it’s not an approved university. That is their policy.
“But a lot of our countrymen went there—some didn’t go anyway; remember, these numbers are just what we have, a lot of them didn’t even bother to go to NYSC.
“The number may be more… some who attempted to but couldn’t succeed in the screening process disappeared into thin air.
“So, in the final analysis, what the federal government approved is that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), will issue a circular to all employers, whether public or private, to fish out anybody with a certificate from these institutions—that circular probably would have been out by now.
“And the Head of Service, has also been mandated to fish out from the public service anybody who is parading certificate from these institutions. So, this is the decision of the federal government on this matter,” Prof Mamman said.
