Nigeria seeks to ban degrees from Kenya, Uganda in crackdown

The crackdown aims to protect Nigeria’s academic qualifications, education minister says

Nigeria says it will extend the suspension of degrees accreditation to more countries, including Kenya and Uganda.

This comes days after the West African country suspended the accreditation of degrees from Benin and Togo.

“We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo,” Education Minister Tahir Mamman said on Wednesday during an interview on Nigeria’s Channels Television channel.

“We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up,” he added.

The new directive is an effort to stop fraudulent qualifications from foreign degree mills, following an exposé by the Daily Nigerian newspaper.

In an undercover investigation, the newspaper’s reporter Umar Audu revealed how he obtained a degree for a four-year program from a Benin university in under two months.

Mr Mamman says that he has “no sympathy” for individuals who will be affected, adding that they are not victims but “part of the criminal chain that should be arrested”.

Nigeria has launched a formal investigation into the ministries and agencies responsible for accrediting academic qualifications obtained abroad.

Mr Mamman said the measure will protect Nigeria’s employers and the integrity of the country’s qualifications.

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