The Nigerian government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to investigate fake academic degrees. The move comes after Abuja banned degree certificates from 18 foreign universities.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's administration, through the Ministry of Education, said that it will start investigating 107 local private universities that began operating in the past 15 years.
The move aims to tackle the proliferation of fake degrees that has shaken Nigeria's academic institutions following an investigative report.
There are at least 79 private universities in Nigeria.
Degree certification in weeks rather than years
"This problem is very wide that you could see a lot of young Nigerians now who are desperately looking for certificates and is causing a serious dent to our educational sector," Umar Audu, the Nigerian investigative journalist who exposed the fake degrees scandal, told DW.
Audu went undercover as a journalist and revealed how, after contacting a syndicate that sells fake degrees, he acquired a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications in six weeks without attending class from the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Armed with the fake degree, Audu had no problem enrolling in Nigeria's mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
A Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications course of study typically lasts three to four years.
"We thought we should draw government's attention and even Nigerians to notorious activities going on in these two [Benin and Togo] countries," said Audu.
More than 10,000 Nigerians studying in Benin and Togo will likely be affected by the ban.
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Crackdown on so-called degree mills
Consequently, after Audu's investigative report, Nigeria banned at least 18 foreign universities, including some from Benin, Togo, the US and the UK.
There are reports that Nigeria could ban degrees from Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
Audu revealed that he was now receiving threatening messages from the racketeers and holders of fake degrees after he exposed the scandal.
According to Ibrahim Shatambaya, a Nigerian university lecturer, the proliferation of fake degrees undermines the country's educational system and productivity.
"What has happened over the years, how these universities have been taking advantage of Nigeria, shows clearly that those universities have contributed in actually producing ill-repaired and unprofessional graduates," Shatambaya told DW.
He regretted that graduates who cut corners to gain certificates later lack the effectiveness and efficiency to deliver and carry out the required functions when they are employed.
For journalist Audu, the government is on the right track in seeking to stop the practice. "It won't be right for us to allow these things to be going on," Audu said, adding that it is not fair for those who work hard and spend sleepless nights to achieve academic excellence.
"Some people will sit in the comfort of their homes and order for an unmerited certificate to be delivered to them in a very short period of time, so that doesn't speak well to us as a nation."
This article has been adapted from a radio report on DW's AfricaLink
