The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, is scheduled to inaugurate an inter-ministerial committee to look into the activities of degree syndicates.
The update is contained in a communique released to journalists by the Director of Press and Public Relations for the ministry, Ben Goong in Abuja.
He said that the”Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, will this afternoon, inaugurate an inter-ministerial committee on degree mills,” Goong said in the notice.
The issue of degree mills has once again become a cause for concern in Nigeria. This was prompted by an investigative report from Umar Audu, a journalist with the Daily Nigerian newspaper.
The report detailed the activities of degree mills in Benin Republic and Togo.
The investigative journalist disclosed the process through which he obtained a degree within six weeks and subsequently participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme.
Audu initiated contact with the syndicate specializing in selling degree certificates in December 2022. Astonishingly, he graduated in February 2023, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The report, uncovering the illicit activities of certain tertiary institutions in West African states, prompted the Nigerian government to impose a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees obtained from Benin Republic and Togo.
Subsequently, Mamman mentioned that the Federal Government intended to broaden its scrutiny to institutions in additional African nations, including Ghana.
As per the statistics offered by the National Association of Nigerian Students in Benin Republic and Togo, the ban imposed by the Nigerian government is anticipated to impact no fewer than 10,900 Nigerian students currently enrolled in universities in Benin and Togo.
Additionally, the National Universities Commission, the regulatory body overseeing universities in Nigeria, disclosed that among the 58 universities whose operations have been suspended in the country, at least 18 are foreign-owned.