The Federal Government has commenced the dismissal of workers who obtained degrees from unaccredited private tertiary institutions in the Benin Republic and Togo, a move aimed at purging the civil service of fraudulent practices.
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Segun Imohiosen, spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), confirmed the development on Wednesday.
According to him, the exercise targets individuals who graduated from such institutions from 2017 to date.
The crackdown follows revelations from an investigative report by Daily Nigerian journalist Umar Audu, who exposed how degree certificates could be obtained from some universities in the Benin Republic within two months and used for official purposes, including the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
In response, the government banned the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from institutions in the Benin Republic, Togo, and other foreign universities with questionable standards.
Subsequently, an interministerial investigative committee was established to tackle the issue of degree certificate racketeering.
In August 2024, the government announced that only eight universities in Togo and the Benin Republic were accredited to award degrees to Nigerians.
Former Education Minister Tahir Mamman disclosed that over 22,500 Nigerians had obtained fake degrees from these countries, declaring such certificates invalid.
As part of the implementation, several ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) have started enforcing the directive. The NYSC, for instance, confirmed that five staff members had been dismissed.
NYSC Director of Information, Caroline Embu, said, “Five members of staff were affected by the directive contained in the letter from the Office of the SGF.”
The initiative underscores the Federal Government’s commitment to sanitizing the civil service and ensuring the credibility of educational qualifications in Nigeria.