{"id":14193,"date":"2026-11-10T14:01:05","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T14:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/fake-degrees-nigerians-demand-sanctions-on-defaulting-universities-as-fg-plans-nysc-test-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T14:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T14:01:05","slug":"fake-degrees-nigerians-demand-sanctions-on-defaulting-universities-as-fg-plans-nysc-test-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/fake-degrees-nigerians-demand-sanctions-on-defaulting-universities-as-fg-plans-nysc-test-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake degrees: Nigerians demand sanctions on defaulting universities as FG plans NYSC test – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government\u2019s proposed assessment test for foreign-trained graduates seeking NYSC mobilisation has drawn calls for tougher action against institutions involved in certificate racketeering, with Nigerians demanding that universities implicated in the award of fake degrees be blacklisted.\n<\/p>\n

They argue that screening graduates alone will not end the menace without sanctions against the institutions enabling the fraud.\n<\/p>\n

Isaiah Ogundele, head of the internal control unit at Chrisland Schools Limited, emphasised that certificate racketeering is not limited to foreign countries, especially the West African Nations.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin Nigeria, we have a lot of higher institutions that run fake degrees. They award certificates to people who did not sit for any exam once they are able to pay the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of assessment tests before mobilising a graduate for NYSC is not the solution because the syndicate will still manoeuvre their ways simply because money is involved,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Ogundele urged the federal government to ensure the National Universities Commission works with its counterparts in the affected countries.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the universities that are not approved or licensed by the countries in question should not be included in the NYSC list for mobilisation,\u201d he noted.\n<\/p>\n

Besides, he reiterated that the government should tackle the issue of fake certificates first with institutions in Nigeria. \u201cThe affected institutions should be blacklisted, and graduates from such institutions must not be allowed to work in any government or Private establishment in Nigeria.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe affected university and graduate should be mandated to produce their exam script for screening, and later exams can be given as a test based on their scores because we have seen a scenario in Nigeria where a candidate who scored A1 in Mathematics in WAEC and NECO but cannot solve a simple problem in JSS 1 mathematics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he advocated for a jail term of not less than 5years for the culprits.\n<\/p>\n

Friday Erhabor, a parent, also asked the federal government to move a step further by publishing the names of the higher institutions found to be guilty of certificate racketeering, both those in Nigeria and those from across the borders.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the federal government should do is to investigate some of these fake degree awarding institutions, especially in the West African corridors, and intermittently publish their names to alert unsuspecting Nigerian students.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t wait for innocent students to have wasted their four to five years, spent money, and later tell them that the certificate they are carrying is fake,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

However, Ikeh Chilaka, an education consultant, applauded the proposed assessment test before NYSC mobilisation in the face of the fake certificate menace ravaging the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the United Kingdom, the United States, and other advanced countries, you can\u2019t practice anything you read without writing assessment exams. \u201cThe only way to ascertain authenticity is by proper scrutiny through examination, and an agency can be set up for these checks,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Stanley Alaubi, a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, also said that the assessment test is a welcome development to curb the use of unqualified personnel flooding the university system and causing nuisance to the nation at large.\n<\/p>\n

However, he said it would be better to tackle certificate racketeering head-on in Nigeria and correct the negative narratives than those from foreign land.\n<\/p>\n

Recall that the federal government announced that it is considering assessment tests for Nigerians holding degrees from foreign universities, particularly in African countries, to curb certificate fraud and safeguard academic standards.\n<\/p>\n

Boriowo Folasade, the director of press and public relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, disclosed this in a statement when she said that the proposal was presented at the 37th Meeting of the National Standing Committee (NSC) on Evaluation of Foreign Qualifications in Abuja by Folake Olatunji-David, the director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n

She stressed that international education must not compromise acceptable academic standards, noting the need to strengthen verification and establish that applicants genuinely attended the institutions awarding their qualifications.\n<\/p>\n

Olatunji-David disclosed that the Ministry had automated and digitalised the evaluation of foreign qualifications and authentication of Nigerian certificates since the beginning of the year, improving transparency, efficiency and service delivery.\n<\/p>\n

The committee will also consider monitoring Nigerians studying in African institutions, recognising foreign regulatory bodies as reliable verification sources, and establishing equivalence guidelines for foreign secondary-school qualifications.\n<\/p>\n

Other issues include compliance by foreign-curriculum schools operating in Nigeria with national education policies and guidelines for issuing letters of no objection to proposed institutions.\n<\/p>\n

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Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government\u2019s proposed assessment test for foreign-trained graduates seeking NYSC mobilisation has drawn calls for tougher action against institutions involved in certificate racketeering, with Nigerians demanding that universities implicated… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}