Education Minister Tahir Mamman, acting on behalf of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, has fiercely denounced those who carry fake diplomas from other African nations, calling them “thieves” and a “danger” to country. In a recent interview, Mamman emphasized the danger that these forgers represent, pointing out that they unfairly compete with Nigerians who possess valid credentials. He stressed the seriousness of the problem, especially in delicate domains like Medicine where unfit personnel could jeopardize life and death. In addition, the minister talked about how the government plans to fire workers from the public and commercial sectors who gained their positions using phony credentials.
Also, he made the point that not even the nations from whom these forged certifications are obtained accept them as genuine. The procurement of phony certificates from the Benin Republic was revealed in a study, which prompted the crackdown on certificate fraud. The president’s academic qualifications from Chicago State University are still under investigation by the Tinubu government, despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of fresh information that casts doubt on them. With the continuing scandal surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s own academic qualifications, the Nigerian government’s campaign against false certificates, led by Education Minister Tahir Mamman, is especially noteworthy.
Certificate fraud endangers lives and threatens the nation’s ed. system.
Although the government opposes the use of forged diplomas from nations such as Togo and the Benin Republic, President Tinubu’s degree from Chicago State University is being questioned. In Nigeria, Certificate Fraud is a widespread problem that impacts many industries, but especially the healthcare and education sectors. In 2022, the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) released a report estimating that about 20% of the diplomas offered for employment in the public and private sectors are either fraudulent or obtained through questionable methods. Widespread Fraud endangers lives and threatens the nation’s educational system, particularly in vital industries like healthcare.
An instance of medical negligence that resulted in multiple avoidable deaths occurred in 2019 when a Nigerian physician was detained for nearly ten years for using a forged certificate. Nations that have gained notoriety for their involvement in certificate racketeering include Togo and the Benin Republic. Because these phony credentials are so easy to obtain and offer excellent scores, many Nigerians buy them—often through middlemen who take care of all the paperwork, including immigration-related data.
It can be time-consuming to confirm the legitimacy of certificates.
These diplomas, however, are not recognized even in the nations in which they are issued, and people use them to get employment in Nigeria, which exacerbates the issue of unfit professionals holding important positions. Despite being vital, the crackdown is not without difficulties. It can be difficult and time-consuming to confirm the legitimacy of certificates, particularly those from overseas universities. In addition, there’s a chance that workers who truly meet the requirements could be wrongly fired as a result of insufficient verifications or administrative mistakes.
Furthermore, others contend that the government’s emphasis on credential forgery may have political undertones, especially in light of the issues surrounding President Tinubu’s own educational background. The lack of access to good education and work prospects in Nigeria, which leads people to seek for these phony certifications in the first place, is one of the core causes of the issue, according to critics, and these should also be addressed by the administration. Nigerian authorities have made sporadic attempts to address this issue. The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) established procedures to confirm the legitimacy of degrees awarded by regional universities in the 1990s and early 2000s after multiple campaigns against forged credentials.
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Nonetheless, the issue continued, in part because of systemic Corruption and inefficiencies. The pressures of a competitive labour market, insufficient educational infrastructure, and economic instability are all factors that have contributed to the historical background of credential fraud in Nigeria. Though the ongoing controversy surrounding President Tinubu’s academic qualifications adds another layer of complexity to the government’s moral authority on this matter, the current efforts to address this issue are informed by decades of attempts to uphold educational standards in the face of systemic challenges.