By Kolawole Ojebisi
After months of investigations and deliberations, the federal government has fired individuals who secured appointments into the country’s civil service with degrees from private tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo,respectively.
The New Diplomat gathered that the directive affected federal workers who graduated from the institutions from 2017 to date.
The development was confirmed by Segun Imohiosen, the Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to journalists on Wednesday.
Recall that August, the Federal August announced that only eight universities had been accredited to award degrees to Nigerians in Togo and Benin Republic, respectively.
The announcement followed an undercover investigation report in which a Daily Nigerian journalist acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic in two months and used it to participate in the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC)scheme.
Following the report, the government banned the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo, respectively.
The Federal Government also set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers.
The then Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, had revealed that over 22,500 Nigerians obtained fake degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo and such certificates would be cancelled.
Mamman explained that the revelation was part of a report submitted to the Federal Executive Council by the investigative committee instituted to probe degree certificates racketeering by foreign and local universities in Nigeria.
He insisted there was no going back on the Federal Government’s decision to cancel about 22,500 certificates awarded to Nigerians by some “fake” universities in the two francophone countries.
He said, “Most of those parading the fake certificates didn’t even leave the shores of Nigeria but got their certificates through racketeering in collaboration with government officials at home and abroad.
“The fake universities capitalised on the gullibility of Nigerians patronising such fake schools. The Federal Government, through the offices of the Head of Civil Service and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, would fish out those in the government’s employment with such fake certificates. I also urge the private sector to follow suit.”
Although the exact number of affected civil servants could not be ascertained, it was gathered that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Cabinet Affairs) had issued a memo to all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to implement the directive.
It was also gathered that some agencies like the National Youth Services Corps(NYSC) have commenced the implementation of the directive.
The NYSC Director of Information, Caroline Embu, confirmed that five members of staff had been sacked in line with the SGF’s directive.
She said, “Five members of staff were affected by the directive contained in the letter from the office of the SGF. No more.”
