Accreditation for Nigerian degrees in Togo and Benin Republic is limited to just eight universities, according to the Federal Government.
On Sunday night, Minister of Education Tahir Mamman disclosed this information during an appearance on Channels Television’s *Sunday Politics*. This update follows a press conference last Friday marking Mamman’s first year in office, where he revealed that over 22,500 Nigerians had acquired fraudulent degree certificates from these countries, which will be annulled.
The decision stems from a report submitted to the Federal Executive Council by a committee tasked with investigating degree certificate fraud by both foreign and local universities. The revelation was prompted by an undercover investigation where a Nigerian journalist obtained a degree from a Benin Republic university in under two months, which was used for National Youth Service Corps deployment.
Mamman outlined that the federal government officially recognizes three universities in Togo and five in Benin Republic for issuing degrees to Nigerian students. The accredited institutions in Togo are:
1. Université de Lomé
2. Université de Kara
3. Catholic University of West Africa
For Benin Republic, the approved universities are:
1. Université d’Abomey-Calavi
2. Université de Parakou
3. Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingénierie et Mathématiques
4. Université Nationale d’Agriculture
5. Université Africaine de Développement Coopératif
Mamman reiterated that the decision to invalidate approximately 22,700 degrees from these “fake” institutions is final and non-negotiable. He underscored that such measures are essential to uphold the country’s reputation, as many individuals with these counterfeit certificates never attended the institutions but obtained them through fraudulent activities involving officials both in Nigeria and abroad.
The minister also urged the private sector to support efforts to identify and address holders of these fraudulent certificates.
