FG to arrest and prosecute fake degree holders

The Federal Government has said security agencies will go after individuals with fake university certificates in the country.

Education Minister Tahir Mamman disclosed this at an event in Abuja on Tuesday, April 2.

The minister said for proper planning to be done in the sector, particularly from a basic level, it has become imperative to build a reliable and authentic database that would promote skills acquisition and development and reduce to the nearest minimum, the number of out-of-school children.

Earlier in January, the minister had said security agents would go after Nigerians with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure opportunities in the country.

“I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” the minister had said.

The minister had also said the Federal Government would suspend degree certificates from more countries like Uganda, Kenya and the Niger Republic.

“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,” he had said.

An undercover journalist had detailed how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic under two months and in fact, deployed for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The Federal Government had suspended immediately suspended accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations and launched a probe which the minister said should submit its report in three months.