The Federal Government has said it would suspend accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from varsities in Uganda, Kenya and Niger Republic.
Minister of education Tahir Mamman said this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.
This comes after sanctions were given to varsities in Benin Republic and Togo.
“We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo. We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up.
“We will not stop at the suspension of certificates from Togo and Benin Republic alone. We are going to extend the suspension to other countries where such institutions operate,” he said.
An undercover journalist had detailed how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic in six weeks and was deployed for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The journalist’s report prompted the government to suspend accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations and launched a probe.
Mamman said the report of the probe would be ready in three months.
He also said students who patronise such institutions are not victims but criminals. “I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” the minister stressed.
He added that security agents would go after those with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure opportunities in Nigeria.
