The Nigerian government has revealed that over 22,500 of its citizens are currently holding fake certificates acquired from universities in Benin Republic and Togo between 2019 and 2023.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, saying over 21,600 obtained the certificates from unaccredited universities in Benin Republic within the timeframe, while about 1105 obtained theirs from some unaccredited universities in Togo.

The minister, who disclosed this at a press conference to mark his first year anniversary on Friday in Abuja, said some of the numbers were harvested from records from the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and other sources.

“From all indications, the figure is higher than what we have already. This is because some of the people choose not to participate in the mandatory NYSC scheme and other engagements that would have enabled us to harvest their data.

“Sadly, these people have used the fake certificates to apply and secure job opportunities in government and private organizations with the mindset that they schooled abroad, while people who studied day and night are out there looking for job opportunities,” he said.

The minister said even within the countries, Benin and Togo, the universities were not accreditated to offer degree programmes.

“I don’t know how Nigerians chose to go to unaccredited institutions abroad to ‘study’. Our investigations also indicated that many of the people never even attended the school physically,” he added.

The minister, however, confirmed that a circular was being prepared from the Office of Head of Service of the Federation that would enable them fish out the people for due prosecution.

“Private sector operators are also encouraged to carry out further investigations on their staff who are parading foreign certificates, and ensure that anyone parading a certificate obtain from these countries between 2019 and 2023 are fished out and handed over to the Federal Ministry of Education for prosecution. The circular from the Head of Service will also be binding on private sector operators.”

He maintained that only five universities in Benin and three in Togo, were accredited to offer degree programmes, adding that people that passed through those schools are exempted from the punitive measures.

Meanwhile, the minister disclosed that about four million out-of-school children had been pulled off the streets back to the classrooms through several of its programmes mainly  championed by the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-school Children.

He said, “Our target is to see about 3 to 4 million children leave the streets and return the school annually, and if that is successfully achieved, then by the end of the administration, significant achievements would have been made as regards the out-of-school children.”