TACKLING THE MENACE OF FAKE CREDENTIALS
NERD should ensure that those who hold positions in society are fit for purpose
From fake medical personnel whose prescriptions are often fatal for hospital patients to fake teachers whose students are candidates for failure to public officials who got elected or appointed to critical positions not qualified for, it is now difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake professionals in our country. This menace is aided by the absence of a reliable database, corrupt government officials, and dishonest personnel in many of our tertiary institutions. It is therefore heartwarming that the federal government has directed that from 6 October, all Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), military and paramilitary formations must enforce mandatory verification of all academic credentials of staff members.
While Nigeria is not lacking in professionals in any field of human endeavour, the failure of the regulatory agencies to properly perform their supervisory roles has given way to situations where quacks have taken over many of the critical jobs in both the private and public sectors. Under the new system, no appointment will be confirmed without an instant National Credential Verification Service (NCVS) clearance certifying the authenticity of academic documents. Each clearance will generate a National Credential Number (NCN) and unique security codes linked to verified documents for record-keeping. To oversight this policy is the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), a centralised digital platform created to store, manage, preserve, and verify educational records, publications, and credentials from all tiers of the system.
For years, there have been reports that many top decision makers in Nigeria conned their way into critical positions without the qualifications they claim. The greater challenge is that this fraud is pervasive in all sectors and across different strata of our society. There are so many criminals who parade chains of degrees to teach in our universities even without possessing a genuine first degree. Last weekend, an undercover journalist in a national newspaper reported securing two appointments with forged certificates obtained from the notorious ‘Oluwole’ hub in Lagos. Such is the level of decay in the system that when an ordinary Nigerian walks into a hospital, chances are that the ‘doctor’ on duty may just be a glorified ward attendant.
Some years ago, a fake medical doctor was discovered to have served in the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) for nine years. To worsen matters, the fake doctor rose to Grade Level 13 in the ministry and had worked in the Departments of Hospital Services and Health Planning Research and Statistics (HPRS) before he was eventually detected as a fraud. According to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, the quack doctor secured his fraudulent employment by using the stolen documents of his childhood friend and best man who happened to be a medical doctor. With that, he was offered appointment by the commission on 30th August 2006 and was posted to the Federal Ministry of Health in September of the same year.
What makes the situation more worrisome is the way fraudsters now con their way into just about any official position with fake credentials. For years, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) was embroiled in scandal over acting Director-General who did not have the requisite qualification for the office he held. But the challenge of fake certificates is not limited to the civil service; it has spread to many of our critical institutions and agencies.
A serving senator once had his election nullified by the court over a fake certificate. Hundreds of other political leaders make dubious academic claims that are never verified. There is hardly any batch of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members that fake graduates would not be discovered. Three years ago, then Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abubakar Adamu Rasheed revealed that about 100 fake professors were uncovered in our institutions of higher learning during a screening exercise.
Since there is hardly any professional field today where these fraudsters have not invaded, we hope that the NERD will put in place a mechanism to ensure that those who hold positions of trust in Nigeria possess the credentials they claim.
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Last weekend, an undercover journalist in a national newspaper reported securing two appointments with forged certificates obtained from the notorious ‘Oluwole’ hub in Lagos
