TheCable

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked the federal government to probe the education ministry’s issuance of a clearance letter to Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies (ESGT).

ESGT, a university in Cotonou, Benin Republic, has been embroiled in a certificate racketeering saga.

A recently published report, exposed a certificate racketeering syndicate in neighbouring African countries like Benin Republic and Togo, that specialises in selling university degrees to willing buyers in Nigeria.

OBTAINING A DEGREE IN SIX WEEKS

In the investigation, an undercover reporter bagged a university degree from Cotonou in six weeks at “an affordable rate”.

The certificate and transcript bore the authentic scan code of ESGT, which is fully accredited and cleared by the governments of Benin Republic and Nigeria.

The certificate stipulated that the reporter commenced his programme in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022.

The reporter proceeded to use the fake certificate to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme without detection.

The investigation also showed that racketeering agents in Nigeria are in cahoots with top management of the university campus in Cotonou, whose registrar and English section coordinators are Nigerians.

The federal government, in response, suspended the evaluation and accreditation of Togolese and Beninese degree certificates.

The decision, it said, is pending an ongoing investigation involving the education ministries in both countries, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the NYSC.

’51 FAKE GRADUATES’ 

MURIC, in a statement signed by Ishaq Akintola, its executive director, commended the federal government’s move, while adding that the education ministry in Nigeria must also be investigated for the clearance it issued to ESGT.

“We demand an investigation into circumstances surrounding the clearance letter issued by the Federal Ministry of Education which confirmed that the university (ESGT) is on the ministry’s list of accredited institutions,” the statement reads.

“It was this letter which enabled NYSC to accept 51 fake graduates to serve in the scheme.

“On its part, NYSC authorities must take necessary action on the 51 fake corpers from ESGT who are serving illegally. They must be flushed out.

“The security agencies should fish out those behind the fraudulent admissions within Nigeria. Those are agents of the fake tertiary institutions in faraway Benin and Togo. They should be made to face the full wrath of the law.”