Mass layoffs are anticipated in Nigeria following the government’s decision to invalidate all degree certificates issued by Cotonou University in Benin Republic from 2017 to the present.
The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, made the announcement during a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
The government has also authorised the termination of employees holding fake degrees obtained from the Republics of Benin and Togo.
The Minister emphasised that these measures were approved during a recent federal executive council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.
The decision follows growing concerns about Nigerians obtaining degrees from neighbouring countries under questionable circumstances.
“Now the recommendations will be implemented along with other ministries and agencies affected, including NYSC, and Immigration.
“Because we have to make some major decisions here, some staff who are affected faced disciplinary measures, and the whole unit went through some kind of review.
“But by and large, we can’t have in our midst people who procure fake certificates and compete with our students who graduated from our universities and polytechnics through their sweat, some spent four, five, six, or more years going out to compete with people who procure certificates right here without going anywhere, for a lot of them.
“So what the FEC now approves is that, through the data, that NYSC has, about 21,684 students are parading fake certificates from Benin Republic, obtained between 2019 to 2023.
“Togo is about 1,105. How did that happen? They simply attend schools, which are not recognized in those countries.
“In the case of Togo, we have three universities that are officially approved and licensed to offer degrees, and in Benin, there are about five of them.
“So anyone who didn’t attend these universities is parading a fake certificate.
“And from 2017, anybody who attended a university solely run in English is wasting his time because it’s not an approved university. That is their policy.
“But a lot of our countrymen went there— some didn’t go anyway; remember, these numbers are just what we have, a lot of them didn’t even bother to go to NYSC.
“So in the final analysis, what the federal government approved is that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, will issue a circular to all employers, whether public or private, to fish out anybody with a certificate from these institutions— that circular probably would have been out by now.
“And the Head of Service has also been mandated to fish out from the public service anybody who is parading certificate from these institutions.
“So this is the decision of the federal government on this matter”.
An undercover Nigerian journalist had revealed how he paid N600,000 to get a Bachelor of Science degree from a Benin Republic institution in two months.