Security agents will actively pursue Nigerians who possess counterfeit certificates from foreign countries and are using them to gain advantages within the country, according to Education Minister Tahir Mamman.
Mamman, appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Wednesday, referred to these individuals as criminals rather than victims.
“I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested,” the minister said sternly.
“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.
“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, Mamman said when asked what would be done to Nigerians with fake foreign certificates already within the system.
The minister further stated that the Federal Government will suspend diplomas from more nations, such as Uganda, Kenya, and Niger Republic.
“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.”
An undercover journalist revealed how he earned a degree from a university in Benin Republic in less than two months and then joined the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The Federal Government promptly halted accreditation of credentials from the two francophone West African nations and initiated an investigation, which the minister stated would be completed in three months.
