December 5, 2024
By Idris Buba
The Federal Government has made good it threat to fire some civil servants with degrees from unregistered private tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo.
The Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Segun Imohiosen, confirmed the development on Wednesday
The directive affected federal workers who graduated from the institutions from 2017 to date.
The Federal Government had in August, announced that only eight universities in Togo and Benin Republic.were accredited to award degrees to Nigerians
The Federal Government also set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers after an undercover investigation report in which a Daily Nigerian journalist acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic in two months and used it to participate in the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
Following the report, the government banned the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo.
The former Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, revealed then that over 22,500 Nigerians obtained fake degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo and such certificates would be cancelled.
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He said, “Most of those parading the fake certificates didn’t even leave the shores of Nigeria but got their certificates through racketeering in collaboration with government officials at home and abroad.
“The fake universities capitalised on the gullibility of Nigerians patronising such fake schools. The Federal Government, through the offices of the Head of Civil Service and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, would fish out those in the government’s employment with such fake certificates. I also urge the private sector to follow suit.”
A source, who pleaded anonymity because she was not authorised to speak on the matter, disclosed that the sacking of the affected workers was based on the inter-ministerial committee’s recommendation.
The official stated, “There was a letter from the SGF cabinet affairs directing all ministries, departments and agencies of government to identify and terminate the appointments of workers employed with certificates obtained from the private universities in the Republic of Benin and Togo from 2017 to date.
“The decision is part of the recommendations of the committee set up to investigate the certificates of people who graduated from the universities.”
Other agencies like the National Youth Services Corps have also commenced the implementation of the directive to weed out those with such degrees.
