The federal government’s plan to investigate private universities established in the country in the past 15 years, following the recent report on fake degrees and activities of degree mills in the country, is laudable. The investigation will establish if the affected institutions have requisite facilities, adequate management structure and funding of programmes.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, explained that the investigation became necessary following the report on how an undercover journalist acquired a degree certificate from a university in Cotonou in six weeks and was also mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. The panel will also examine “the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.”
The inter-ministerial investigative panel, which comprises representatives from the National Universities Commission (NUC), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Federal Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Youth Development, has the chairman, board of trustees Committee of Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC), Prof. J.D. Amin, as its chairman. The body has eight weeks to complete the task and submit its report.
The panel is expected to examine the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within foreign and private universities in Nigeria, review the role of any ministry, department and agency or its officials in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of the fake certificate in question.
It is also expected to review existing policies and procedures related to accreditation and certification to identify weaknesses; examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education; establish if unapproved foreign institutions (degree mills) exist or not in Nigeria in whatever form with their identities and locations if any. The committee is further expected to make appropriate recommendations for a review of the rules and procedures and prevent a re-occurrence. It will prescribe sanctions for identified erring officials; make other recommendations that will strengthen the system of recognitions, accreditations and quality assurance of degrees in Nigeria.
It will also examine the extant rules, procedures and processes for granting of provisional licences to new universities by the NUC; examine the procedures and processes for periodic accreditation of programmes in the universities by the NUC, and examine their effectiveness in quality assurance of the programmes.
The probe is a welcome development that will sanitise the tertiary education system, if it is diligently carried out. Nigeria currently has a total of 147 private universities. Statistics on the NUC website indicate that 107 of them were established in the last 15 years. We believe that a thorough investigation into the activities of the institutions will enhance the standard of higher education in the country.
It is embarrassing that some Nigerians are acquiring fake degrees from universities in neighbouring West African countries and using them to serve in the NYSC. They might have used such fake degrees to obtain jobs in the federal and state civil service. Some might have used fake certificates to get elected into public offices. This does not bode well for the future of higher education and the overall development of the country.
The recent exposure on the Cotonou incident is just one in many. The ignominious practice is not only associated with private or foreign universities. Their criminal counterparts equally operate in some federal and state universities. The latest of such discoveries involved highly placed officials of the Lagos State University (LASU) alleged to be engaged in certificate racketeering and extortion. Reports indicated that the syndicate, which had connections at the highest echelons of the university administration, was in the habit of giving away genuine and properly authenticated certificates of the university for amounts ranging between N2 million and N3 million to members of the public who were in need of such, even without attending the institution.
Therefore, the federal government’s probe should be extended to public universities and other institutions of higher learning. Let the findings of the panel be made public. Any institution or official involved in the degree racket should be sanctioned. Public officials parading fake degrees or certificates should be prosecuted and dismissed with ignominy.