There is strong indications that more staff of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) may be affected by the ongoing sack of personnel holding fake degrees and certificates from Togo and Republic of Benin, two West Africa countries close to Nigeria.
Five staff have been dismissed for allegedly holding fake degree certificates obtained from institutions in Benin Republic and Togo.
The affected employees were sacked based on recommendations from an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate, established by the federal government to assess the extent of the allegations of fake certificates and degrees.
Confirming the termination of staff, the Director of Information, NYSC, Caroline Embu, on Thursday, stated, “Five members of staff were affected by the directive contained in the letter from the office of the SGF, (Secretary to the Government of the Federation)”.
This action aligns with federal government’s directives aimed at addressing the proliferation of counterfeit degrees in Nigeria.
The directive specifically targets employees who graduated from these foreign institutions from 2017 till date.
In August, the Federal government announced that only eight universities had been accredited to award degrees to Nigerians in Togo and Benin Republic.
Following a report by an undercover investigation on the activities of certificate racketeers, the government banned the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo.
The former 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.
