A woman walks past the damaged Lviv National University of Nature Management
AFP

The federal government said it will withdraw the recognition of universities from Kenya, Uganda and Niger for allegedly issuing fake degrees. The decision comes a day after it suspended evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from the Republic of Benin and Togo.

"We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo," Education Minister Tahir Mamman said on Channels TV's "Politics Today" program Wednesday. "We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up."

The minister said he has no sympathy for people involved in this matter, noting that they are all part of the criminal chain that should be arrested.

"If, along the line, we can trace that there are people already in the system. For instance, if a particular institution or operator has been operating, say in the last 10 years, we will check if we can get records of Nigerians who attended that institution," he said, adding that "there is no timeframe to criminality."

"As long as we can lay our hands on their institutions and they are right here with us, certainly, the security agencies will go after them because they are criminals," Mamman said when asked what will happen to Nigerians who already work in the system with fake foreign certificates.

A day ago, the federal government closed 18 foreign universities operating in Nigeria for allegedly providing fake degrees. This decision came after a report exposed how some officials of the Beninese University produced fake university degrees for a fee.

The banned universities include the University of Applied Sciences and Management, Port Novo, Republic of Benin; Volta University College, Ho, Ghana; the International University, Missouri, the U.S., Kano and Lagos Study Centers; Columbus University, the U.K.; Pebbles University, the U.K. and Irish University Business School London, among others.

The government said the suspension will remain in effect pending the outcome of a probe involving the ministries of foreign affairs and education of Nigeria, Republic of Benin and Togo, as well as the Department of State Security Services and the National Youths Service Corps.