FG SACKS BENIN, TOGO DEGREE HOLDERS FROM MDAS

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The Federal Government has dismissed a number of state personnel who hold degrees from private universities in Togo and the Benin Republic.

The order had an impact on federal employees who graduated from the schools between 2017 and the present.

On Wednesday, Segun Imohiosen, the Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, gave one of our correspondents confirmation of the development.

The Federal government said in August that just eight universities in Togo and the Benin Republic were authorized to grant degrees to Nigerians.

This came after a Daily Nigerian journalist who participated in the National Youth Service Corps program after earning a degree from a Benin Republic university in two months through an undercover investigative report.

The accreditation and evaluation of degrees from higher institutions in Togo and the Benin Republic were prohibited by the government after the study.

To look into the actions of certificate racketeers, the Federal Government also established an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling.

Tahir Mamman, the education minister at the time, disclosed that more than 22,500 Nigerians had gotten phony degree certificates from Togo and the Benin Republic, and that these certifications would be revoked.

Mamman clarified that the disclosure was a component of a report that the investigation committee, which was established to look into degree certificate racketeering by both domestic and foreign colleges in Nigeria, delivered to the Federal Executive Council.

He maintained that the Federal Government’s decision to revoke the roughly 22,500 degrees that some “fake” universities in the two francophone nations had given to Nigerians could not be reversed.

Since Nigerians who earned degree certificates from these postsecondary institutions damage the nation’s reputation, Mamman insisted that the decision to nullify the degrees was not punitive.

He said, “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.

“The fake universities capitalised on the gullibility of Nigerians patronising such fake schools. The Federal Government, through the offices of the Head of Civil Service and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, would fish out those in the government’s employment with such fake certificates. I also urge the private sector to follow suit.”

It was learned that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Cabinet Affairs) had sent a memo to all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to enforce the order, even though it was impossible to determine the precise number of impacted civil personnel.

According to a source who requested anonymity because she lacked the authority to discuss the subject, the interministerial committee’s recommendation served as the basis for the termination of the impacted employees.

The official stated, “There was a letter from the SGF cabinet affairs directing all ministries, departments and agencies of government to identify and terminate the appointments of workers employed with certificates obtained from the private universities in the Republic of Benin and Togo from 2017 to date.

“The decision is part of the recommendations of the committee set up to investigate the certificates of people who graduated from the universities.”

Additionally, our correspondent learned that some organizations, such as the National Youth Services Corps, have started putting the directive into practice.

Our correspondent was informed by Caroline Embu, the NYSC Director of Information, that five employees had been fired in accordance with the SGF’s order.

She said, “Five members of staff were affected by the directive contained in the letter from the office of the SGF. No more.”