The Honourable Minister of Education (HME), Professor Tahir Mamman, SAN, OON, has vowed to flush out persons in public and private organisations working with fake certificates. Professor Mamman made this known while speaking in Abuja last Friday when he received the report of an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling from the Chairman of the Committee , Professor. J.D. Amin.
The Monday Bulletin had reported that the Honourable Minister of Education on the 9th January, 2024, inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial Committee to examine the veracity of allegations of degrees racketeering within both foreign and local private universities. The Committee was mandated to review the role of any MDA or its officials in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of fake certificates in question. Professor Mamman, who expressed sadness over what had been uncovered during the investigations, said that the Ministry would work with relevant agencies to sanitise the education sector and rid it of any fake tendencies. “We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education soiled by some few persons. “It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations who needed to be flushed out. This report is a product of a thorough investigation. He said that automating the entire education system was a way to go in such a way that you could sit in your office and monitor what is happening in all tertiary institutions.
According to him, in the course of our investigation, we realised that the present programme of accreditation and evaluation of results were inadequate. The Minister emphasised on the need for more universities in the country, stating that more universities to train PhD holders would help a lot rather than Nigerians going outside in search of certificates while ending up getting fake certificates. He, therefore, urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to pay more attention to institutions offering part-time or sandwich programmes so that the country need not have a repeat of 2017 saga of centres offering unaccredited courses. “People go and get fake degrees and we have been to those countries and we know what a proper degree looks like, we know what the fake ones look like.
“We have mandated the Ministry to scrutinise anyone presenting a certificate from those institutions and anything short of that is fake. “It is up to the Ministry to find out people with fake certificates and deal with them in whatever way they deem fit,” he said. “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,” he said. He pledged to take decisive role to ensure standards were enshrined in the system saying that ‘we can’t afford to let down our country when it comes to standards’.
Presenting the report, Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee, Professor J.D Amin, decried the horrible standards of education in those schools saying that many of those schools awarding degree certificates were an eye saw. Professor Amin said the problems at hand required speedy intervention, recommending that all agencies in the sector must digitise/automate their system. The six-man Committee, headed by the Chairman, Board of Trustees(BOTs) Committee of Vice-Chancellors, Professor J.D Amin had as members the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Mr. Chris J. Maiyaki and representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Ministry of Youths, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB).
The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the committee were to examine the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.
The Committee also reviewed the role of any Ministry, Department and Agencies (MDA) or its officials; including identifying such officials in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of the fake certificate in question. The committee’s terms of reference also included reviewing existing policies and procedures related to accreditation and certification to identify weaknesses contributing to the issue:
Other terms included to, “Examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education.
“Establish if unapproved foreign institutions (Degree Mills) exist or not in Nigeria in whatever form with their identities and locations, if any.
“Make appropriate recommendations for review of any rules, procedures, processes to prevent re-occurrence and sanctions for identified erring officials;
“Make other recommendations that will strengthen the system of recognitions, accreditations, and quality assurance of degrees in Nigeria
“Examine the extant rules procedures and processes for granting of provisional licences to new universities by the National Universities Commission (NUC);
“Examine the procedures and processes for periodic accreditation of programmes in the universities by the NUC and examine their effectiveness in quality assurance of the programmes,”