On Wednesday, January 3, the Nigerian government announced that it was halting the evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo. 

Following the suspension which affected 45 universities in the two nations, Nigeria added that it would be extending the suspension to Kenya, Uganda and Niger. 

This was communicated by Nigerian Education Minister Tahir Mamman who vowed to clean the education system in his country. 

The sanctions were instituted after an investigative journalist acquired a degree from a university in the Benin Republic after studying for less than 60 days. 

Immediately after earning the degree, he used the certifications to apply and get deployed for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

“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,” Mamman announced. 

He explained that the reason for extending the suspension to Kenya and other countries was to weed out certificates from rogue institutions. 

“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," the Education Minister explained how Nigeria was tackling the case of fake certificates. 

Mamman when asked what would be done to Nigerians with fake foreign certificates already within the system, he stated, “Once we do that, 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 added that the Federal Government of Nigeria would not be sympathetic to nationals who had received certificates from flagged institutions. 

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

An investigation showed that Nigerians were acquiring doctored academic papers from foreign countries and used them to acquire job opportunities back home. 

The Federal Government of Nigeria announced that it had dispatched security officers to arrest those in possession of fake certificates. The Nigerian Ministry of Education did not expound whether it was targeting all the universities in Kenya, Uganda and Niger or it would go for those without physical infrastructure. 

The Kenyan government is yet to comment on the statement from Mamman. 

Additionally, while the Nigerian government has made accusations against Kenya, Uganda and Niger, it did not provide proof that any institution from the aforementioned countries had offered degree certificates unlawfully.