Niger's eligibility could also be affected, according to officials.
Degrees from Benin and Togo were used by Nigerians to obtain jobs or higher education qualifications in Nigeria, depriving those with genuine documents, local media reported.
It follows revelations in a widely publicized investigation that captured the attention of the Nigerian public that a journalist obtained fraudulent degree qualifications in two months from universities in two French-speaking African countries.
During an investigation for the Daily Nigerian newspaper, an undercover reporter succeeded in obtaining a four-year degree from the University of Benin in a record two months.
“We will not stop at just Benin and Togo”
Nigeria's Federal Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, announced in a later interview that the country's qualifications would be scrutinized and would not be automatically recognized by the country's accreditation authority.
“We will not just stop at Benin and Togo,” Education Minister Tahir Mamman said in an interview with Nigeria’s Channels Television channel last week. “We will extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya and even Niger where such institutions have been established,” he said.
Mamman said in an interview that qualifications from Kenya and Uganda would also not be automatically recognized. However, it is not clear why degrees from both countries are added to the list, or which university is alleged to have issued the fraudulent certificates.
Additionally, a degree earned from a university in Niger, a French-speaking country, was added to the shameful list.
“We have no sympathy for individuals who knowingly obtain fake degrees.”
“We have no sympathy for individuals who knowingly obtain fake degrees. They are not victims but participants in a criminal chain that must be dismantled,” the minister added.
Meanwhile, the country banned 18 foreign universities from operating in the country, including five in the United States, six in the United Kingdom and three in Ghana.
The University Commission of Nigeria said in a statement that the federal government had not granted licenses to some universities and that some had already closed. In 2021, the government listed 58 fake universities on its website.
“The National Universities Commission wishes to inform the general public, especially parents and prospective undergraduate students, that the ‘degree programs’ listed below are not licensed by the federal government and have therefore been closed for violating educational regulations (national minimum standards). etc.) Act of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004”.
The list of blacklisted institutions included universities claiming to be of British origin, including Columbus University, Thieu International University, Pebbles University and the London University for External Studies.