Nigerian Government Dismisses Civil Servants with Degrees from Benin and Togo

Nigerian Government Dismisses Civil Servants with Degrees from Benin and Togo

The Federal Government of Nigeria has terminated the employment of civil servants who obtained degrees from private tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo between 2017 and the present.

This decision follows an undercover investigation by a Nigerian journalist who acquired a degree from a Benin Republic university in just two months and used it to join the National Youth Service Corps.

In response, the government banned the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from these countries and set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling.

The committee revealed that over 22,500 Nigerians had obtained fake degrees from these institutions. Consequently, the government decided to cancel these degrees and issued a directive to all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to identify and dismiss affected workers.

The former Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, emphasized that the decision was necessary to protect the integrity of Nigeria’s education system and national image. The exact number of dismissed civil servants is not known, but the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has confirmed the implementation of this directive.