On Wednesday, Education Minister Tahir Mamman blamed the duplicate deployment of an undercover journalist for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme on technological malfunction.
“I presume that’s a failure of technology. Sometimes, it happens. So, it’s for the technical people to answer that,” Mamman said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
Earlier on Wednesday, Umar Audu narrated how he obtained a degree certificate from a Cotonou-based university within six weeks and how it was delivered to him as though he ordered a Pizza. He was a guest on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
Audu, who had previously served in the NYSC scheme, was again deployed for the scheme and posted to Cross River State with the fake certificate obtained from Benin Republic.
Asked why the NYSC did not detect that the reporter had served before, the minister blamed the situation on technology failure.
Mamman added that he had already discussed with the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, “so that we simply have one identification system in our country and don’t carry different identification everywhere we go.”
The minister also said security agents will go after Nigerians with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure opportunities in the country.
Aside from the Benin Republic and Togo, Mamman added that the Federal Government will suspend degree certificates from more countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Niger Republic.