Fake degrees: Uganda, Kenya demand Nigerian students’ verification

Examination boards in Kenya and Uganda are now writing Nigeria to verify records presented by Nigerian candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in their countries.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board made this known in a document for the  2024 policy meeting.

JAMB noted in the document that it would not falsify the records of any students while stressing the need to protect Nigeria’s tertiary education from disrepute.

The development comes on the back of the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the verification of degree certificates from Uganda, Kenya, Benin Republic, Togo and some other countries over allegations of certificate racketeering.

In March, the Federal Government set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers following an investigative report published by Daily Nigerian which exposed the activities of fake degree mills in the Benin Republic.

Daily Nigerian reporter Umar Audu revealed how he obtained a degree within six weeks and even proceeded to embark on mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service Corps scheme back in Nigeria.

The investigative report, which exposed the illegalities perpetrated by some tertiary institutions in the West African countries, led to the Nigerian government placing a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, having received the report of the committee, noted that holders of fake degrees from Nigerian and foreign universities would be flushed out of the system.

Some of the recommendations of the committee stressed the need for universities in the country to conduct their admissions via the Central Admissions Processing System popularly known as CAPS and the mandatory submission of matriculation lists to the federal Ministry of Education.

In a document obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, JAMB noted that Kenya and Uganda exam boards are now writing to Nigeria to verify records of Nigerian students seeking to study in the countries.

“Uganda and Kenya examination boards are now writing to JAMB to confirm records presented by candidates for admission of candidates. JAMB would not falsify record,” the Nigerian exam body stated.

The PUNCH exclusively reported on Monday that the Federal Government  had mandated all higher institutions in the country to “regularly submit their matriculation lists to the Federal Ministry of Education not later than three months after matriculation ceremonies.”

The list, the government said, must be submitted “through the dedicated channel of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.”

The initiative is one of the recommendations made by the Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling set up by the government to combat fake degree mills or racketeers in the country.