As FG sets to verify foreign degrees

According to findings, the Federal Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the National Universities Commission (NUC), has set up a unit to start verifying the authenticity or otherwise of all foreign degrees.The development, Daily Trust learnt, followed a series of complaints about the genuineness of most foreign degrees. It has been discovered that Nigerians are […]

According to findings, the Federal Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the National Universities Commission (NUC), has set up a unit to start verifying the authenticity or otherwise of all foreign degrees.
The development, Daily Trust learnt, followed a series of complaints about the genuineness of most foreign degrees. It has been discovered that Nigerians are in the habit of patronising substandard universities abroad in the pursuit of their academic careers.
The institutions that are being patronised by Nigerians abroad are mostly substandard and some are not even approved universities.
Therefore, in order to save Nigerians from that embarrassment, the ministry decided to wade in and established the unit to take care of any problem related to certificates obtained by Nigerians from foreign universities.
Confirming the establishment of the unit, the media aide to the Minster of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, Malam Sule Ya’u Sule, said the unit will be run by the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Sule explained that the ministry has accredited all foreign schools for verification by parents that are interested in sending their wards abroad for studies.
“Parents have been sensitised on that. They should first of all come to the ministry and verify if the school they intend to send their children is among the approved institutions. The problem is that Nigerians are going to substandard universities abroad; to schools which have not been approved not to talk of the certificates they issue.
“Anybody that graduates from such unapproved institutions will not be given clearance for the mandatory one-year NYSC henceforth,” Sule stated.
The spokesman of the NUC, Alhaji Ibrahim Yakasai, also confirmed the inclusion of the commission in the unit, saying “the commission and the Federal Ministry of Education are working out modalities for verification of the quality of foreign degrees.”
He said: “Anybody can go to any university in any country that is approved in that country but whether that degree is qualitative or not is what we are after. We are going to look at the quality of that degree and that is very easy for NUC to know.”
Yakasai said Nigeria recognises all universities recognised by other countries but the commission has parameters to authenticate the quality for the degrees.
He said the unit will continue to advise parents on how best they handle the situation, stressing that “anybody that seeks for the commission’s advice will be given the best of advice that will be best for him and the children.”
Commenting on the development, a professor in the Department of Geography, Bayero University Kano, Yusuf Adamu, supported the idea and said it will greatly add value to the nation’s education sector.
However, he advised the federal government to first and foremost create awareness among Nigerians about the issue, saying “government should embark on rigorous awareness campaign about the issue so that Nigerians will become aware of it.”
He added that government should also conduct a thorough survey about the universities particularly in the Asian countries where most Nigerians go for studies.
“The federal government should accredit all the institutions in Asia and have the list of the genuine ones and the mushrooms so that parents will know very well where they are sending their children for studies,” he said.  
For Dr. Lawal Abdulrashid Funtua, also of the Department of Geography, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, it is a welcome development if government will handle the issue with all sincerity.
However, he suggested that the unit should be upgraded to the status of a directorate headed by an academician that has attained the rank of professor adding that it should be autonomous.
The unit should be allowed to work freely, he said, noting that if government is sincere about this, academicians of good character should be deployed to man the unit because its activities would purely be an academic affair.
Dr. Funtua added that the unit should always liaise with all Nigerian universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education because some of them are also awarding degrees.
“The unit should also work closely with universities’ regulatory bodies in other countries. This will help the government in achieving the desired objective,” he noted.
He said: “Many Nigerians are going there for studies but coming back with empty brains because they have graduated from substandard institutions. So, the earlier the federal government takes drastic measures to address the trend, the better.”
A parent, Alhaji Ibrahim Sadiq, commends the federal government for establishing the unit but said it should also do more in addressing the prevailing challenges faced by our tertiary institutions.
He said: “Most parents do send their children abroad for studies because of the frequent strikes by our universities. This is why a student that is supposed to finish his university studies in four years will end up graduating in eight or 10 years. This is one of the reasons why some parents, especially the wealthy among us, are sending their children abroad to study.”
Apart from this, he added, most of our universities have no adequate facilities that will take care of experimental components of some courses.
“The epileptic power supply is also contributing to this problem because some of the experiments have to be conducted when there is availability of electricity which we don’t have now in the country,” he said.
Another parent, Muhammad Musa, said the federal government should improve upon the services of public universities in the country, adding that “this is a very simple issue. If the services of our universities can be improved upon, government needs not to tell anybody not to take his children abroad for studies.”
He added: “Anyway the decision taken by the federal government is a good one because it will help in sanitising the situation but government should not relent in its efforts towards improving the services of our institutions.”