Nigeria has suspended the evaluation and accreditation of university degrees from Benin and Togo.
The Nigerian education ministry said on Tuesday that the move would facilitate an investigation after allegations surfaced that some universities in the neighbouring countries were awarding degrees to undeserving people in exchange for money.
"Some Nigerians deploy nefarious means and unconscionable methods to get a degree with the end objective of getting graduate job opportunities for which they are not qualified," Augustina Obilor-Duru, education ministry's director of public relations, said.
Daily Nigerian newspaper had recently published an investigative story revealing how one of its undercover journalists bought an undergraduate degree from a university in the neighbouring country in six weeks' time.
Probe ongoing
Acquiring a university degree in West Africa takes an average of four years.
Nigeria says its indefinite suspension on Beninese and Togolese university degrees will remain in place until the government concludes its investigation.
Nigeria added that it was working in concerted effort with authorities in Benin and Togo to investigate the academic fraud.
➤Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.
