Nigeria’s Education Minister, Tahir Mamman, has vowed to go after citizens using fake certificates obtained from foreign countries to secure employment in Nigeria.
Describing such individuals as “criminals” involved in a criminal chain, Mammman insisted they ought to be arrested and not empathised with.
The minister, who appeared on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” swore that security agencies will crack down on individuals culpable of the act.
“I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” the minister stated firmly.
“If along the line, we can trace that there are people already in the system. For instance, if a particular institution or operator has been operating, say in the last 10 years, we will check if we can get records of Nigerians who attended that institution.
“They are criminals and you know there is no timeframe to criminality. We will trace them. As long as we can lay our hands on their institutions and they are right here with us, certainly, the security agencies will go after them because they are criminals.”
The Minister’s statement was spurred by an undercover journalist’s report, in which he described how he acquired a degree within six weeks from a Cotonou-based varsity in Benin Republic, and thereafter was deployed to Cross Rivers State for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme undetected.
Following the report, the federal government swiftly suspended the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo, adding the sanction would be extended to more countries like Uganda, Kenya and Niger Republic.
“We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo,” Mamman added.
“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.”
