FG fires degree holders from Benin, Togo universities

.To continue thorough review of staff credentials

The federal government has fired civil servants with degree certificates from universities in Benin Republic, as it continues its crackdown on fake degrees.

The development, which was confirmed by Segun Imohiosen, director of information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), BusinessDay gathered, is part of efforts to implement the 2017 directives to crack down on degrees from universities in Benin Republic which do not meet the academic requirements approved in Nigeria.

Their dismissals followed reports by the inter-ministerial committee set up by the federal government to flush out workers who acquired degrees from non-accredited universities in Benin Republic from 2017 to date.

Esther Wilson-Jack, head of service of the federation, had recently assured that the government would continue to clean up the federal civil service to weed out “unqualified staff employed under questionable circumstances.”
Speaking during her first 100 days of service, the Head of Service said her office will ensure constant appraisal of the system, adding that “ there will be no room for anyone we discovered has been improperly employed.”

The federal government had announced the names of eight universities accredited in Togo and Benin Republic.

They include the Universite De Lome, Universite De Kara and the Catholic University of West Africa.

Others are: the Universite D’Abomey-Calavi., Universite De Parakou, Universite Nationale Des Sciences, Technologies, Ingenierie Et Mathematiques, Universite Nationale D’Agriculture and Universite Africaine De Developpement Cooperatif.

Mamman Tahir, former minister of education, had, while speaking on the accredited institutions, vowed that the government would ensure that those still in the federal civil service with the ‘fake’ certificate from non- accredited institutions would “face severe consequences.”

He also assured that both the Office of the Head of Service and the SGF will “take decisive steps to root out such cases within the public sector.”