The Federal Government has banned 18 foreign universities operating in Nigeria, describing them as “degree mills,’’ warning Nigerians to avoid enrolling in such institutions.
The directive affected five universities from the United States, six from the United Kingdom, and three Ghanaian tertiary institutions.
The decision was sequel to an undercover investigative report titled, ‘How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks,’ published by the Daily Nigerian newspaper.
The report exposed how some officials of the Beninese University produced fake university degrees for a fee.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Education on Tuesday announced the temporary suspension of evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from the Republic of Benin and Togo.
Announcing the ban in a statement published on its website, the National Universities Commission explained that the Federal Government had not licensed the affected universities and they had been closed down.
The statement partly reads, “The National Universities Commission wishes to announce to the general public, especially parents and prospective undergraduates that the under-listed “degree mills” have not been licensed by the Federal Government and have therefore been closed down for violating the Education (National Minimum Standards, etc.) Act of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The federal Government decried the certificate racketeering exposed by the report and berated Nigerians who engaged in desperate methods to get a degree
