The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, said on
Monday that it had constituted a 16-man committee to screen over 40,000
degrees claimed to have been obtained by Nigerian students who studied
in foreign institutions.
The Minister of
Education, Adamu Adamu, who inaugurated the committee in Abuja, said the
screening by the committee was necessary to detect cases of fake
foreign degrees obtained, particularly from sub-standard institutions in
Africa and beyond.
Adamu made the remarks at the 33rd meeting of
the National Standard Committee on Evaluation and Accreditation of
Foreign Qualifications.
The minister said according to a
preliminary assessment by the Ministry of Education, no fewer than
40,000 Nigerians were either holding such certificates or currently
studying in various tertiary institutions abroad.
He said degrees
from questionable institutions, especially from countries such as Benin
Republic, Togo and Cameroon, had already been identified by the
ministry.
He said, “There arose the need to assess the quality of
foreign qualifications obtained by Nigerians in order to determine the
Nigerian equivalence for the purpose of further studies and employment.
“The
recommendations that will be given by the committee will prove crucial
to the well-being and future of those that acquired the qualifications
and foreign certificates.”
The Punch learnt that the 16 persons in the committee were drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country.
Meanwhile,
the ministry said it had also prosecuted 20 persons for certificate
forgery and falsification of signatures of officials of the ministry.
The
Director, Education Support Services, Mrs. Justina Ibe, said this at
the committee meeting, noting that the suspects had been handed over to
the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission
for necessary action.
