The Federal Government has announced that all degree certificates issued by Cotonou University from 2017 to the present will be rendered invalid.
This sweeping action comes alongside the immediate termination of all personnel currently employed by the FG who possess counterfeit degree certificates obtained from the Republics of Benin and Togo.
During a press conference in Abuja on Friday, marking his first anniversary in office, Minister of Education Prof. Tahir Mamman (SAN) unveiled these initiatives, which were authorized in a recent meeting of the federal executive council led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Prof. Mamman stated, “One of the things we did in the course of the year was — remember when information broke out about some of our students going to neighbouring countries — some not even going at all — to obtain certificates. The ministry set up a committee to look into that; the committee came up with a detailed review; that review was sent to the federal executive council about a month ago, which approved some of the recommendations from the ministry.”
He elaborated on the collaborative efforts underway, saying, “Now the recommendations will be implemented along with other ministries and agencies affected, including NYSC, Immigration. Because we have to take some major decisions here, some staff who are affected faced disciplinary measures, and that the whole unit went through some kind of review.”
Prof. Mamman emphasized the importance of maintaining educational standards, expressing, “But by and large, we can’t have in our midst people who procure fake certificates and to compete with our students who graduated from our universities and polytechnics through their sweat, some spent four, five, six, or more years going out to compete with people who procure certificates right here without going anywhere, for a lot of them.”
The Minister highlighted the scale of the issue, revealing that, “Through the data that NYSC has, about 21,684 students that are parading fake certificates from Benin Republic, obtained between 2019 to 2023.” This initiative marks a decisive step towards ensuring that academic qualifications are both legitimate and reflective of the hard work invested by genuine students.