Investigative journalist Umar Audu, has given more information on how simple it was to obtain a certificate from a Cotonou-based university in the Benin Republic in less than six weeks.
Audu revealed a thriving certificate racketeering syndicate in neighbouring African nations like Benin Republic and Togo, which specializes in selling university degrees to willing buyers in Nigeria, in his investigative report titled “How a Daily Nigerian reporter bagged a Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks.”
According to him, the certificate was delivered like pizza after payment was made.
“This certificate will be delivered to you just like you ordered 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.”
The undercover reporter obtained a transcript from the school with the real scan code of the concerned institution.
The transcript and certificate were reasonably priced and included the genuine scan code of the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Benin Republic.
The Federal Government was compelled by his inquiry to halt the assessment and accreditation of degree credentials from Togo and the Benin Republic.
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.
