The Federal Government has sacked civil servants holding degrees from private universities in Benin Republic and Togo, as part of efforts to clamp down on degree mills.
This decision impacts workers who graduated from these institutions between 2017 and the present.
Segun Imohiosen, the Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, confirmed the development on Wednesday.
The directive is in response to revelations of rampant degree certificate racketeering, following an undercover investigation that exposed how degrees were acquired fraudulently from institutions in the two neighboring countries.
In August, the Federal Government declared that only eight universities in Togo and Benin were authorized to award degrees to Nigerians.
This followed a series of reports exposing the ease with which Nigerians obtained dubious degrees from these countries, some within as little as two months.
The government also set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee to probe the activities of degree mills, leading to the cancellation of over 22,500 fraudulent degrees issued by unaccredited universities.
Former Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, stated that these actions were essential to protect the integrity of the Nigerian education system and the country’s image.
“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,” Mamman explained.
As part of the fallout, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation issued a directive for all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to identify and dismiss workers who possess such questionable degrees.
The memo specifically affects civil servants who obtained their degrees from private institutions in Benin and Togo from 2017 onwards.
An anonymous source disclosed that the sacking of these workers is based on the recommendations of the investigative committee.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has already begun implementing the directive, with five staff members reported dismissed as part of the process.
Caroline Embu, the NYSC Director of Information, confirmed that five members of staff were affected by the order, with no further details provided.
