The federal government of Nigeria has decided to temporarily suspend the validation of diplomas obtained in Togo or Benin, in order to combat the trafficking of false certificates. A drastic measure which follows the investigation of an undercover journalist, who obtained a diploma in less than two months at a Beninese university.
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Nearly 15,000 Nigerian students could be affected if diplomas issued in Togo and Benin are no longer recognized in their countries. In any case, this is the figure put forward by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) of the Beninese Republic, worried for its members. The president of the association asks the Nigerian authorities not to punish all students for “ the crime committed by a single institution » even if he welcomes the efforts made to fight against false diplomas.
Not new
This problem is not new, but a report published in the Nigerian press has revived the debate at the start of 2024. A journalist explains how he came into contact with a group of Nigerian counterfeiters working according to him ” together » with certain Beninese university officials. The prize is a four-year university course completed in barely a month, a transcript and an authentic diploma from the Higher School of Management and Technology of Cotonou.
In-depth investigation
Documents which allowed him to then register without difficulty in the compulsory civic service program (NYSC) in Nigeria. The Nigerian Minister of Education has promised an in-depth investigation into the mechanisms that allowed this fraud, which even concerns countries other than Togo and Benin, according to him.
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