An undercover journalist, Umar Audu, on Wednesday, shed more light on how easy it was to get a certificate from Cotonou-based University in Benin Republic within six weeks.
In his investigative report, “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks,” Audu exposed a thriving certificate racketeering syndicate in neighbouring African countries like Benin Republic and Togo that specialises in selling university degrees to willing buyers in Nigeria.
According to him, the certificate was delivered like pizza after payment was made.
“This certificate will be delivered to you just like you ordered for a pizza or something and you give them your location and it is delivered to you. That was what motivated me to conduct this investigation,” he said on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
“We have done a similar investigation in the past in 2018, which led to the government taking certain decisions. These things keep going on despite pronouncements by the Federal Government.”
An intriguing part of the report is that the undercover reporter got the school’s transcript that bore the authentic scan code of the school in question.
The certificate and transcript bore the authentic scan code of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Benin Republic and it came at an affordable rate.
His investigation forced the Federal Government to suspend the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo.
Days after, Audu, who works at the Daily Nigerian newspapers, said: “I never travelled out of Nigeria during this investigation.”
According to the certificate issued, the reporter commenced his programme in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022. He thereafter used the fake certificate to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme without being detected.