Representatives Clear Togo of Fake Certificate Claims, Shift Probe to Benin Republic

The House of Representatives has absolved the Republic of Togo of involvement in the issuance of fake academic certificates linked to past controversies in Nigeria’s education sector. Meanwhile, the House Committee on Public Petitions has launched an investigation into the Republic of Benin, where a suspected syndicate is allegedly operating a thriving network of certificate forgery. The Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Bitrus Laori, disclosed this during a resumed investigative hearing in Abuja on Friday, following a petition filed by Sovereign Legal Practitioners on behalf of key education stakeholders.

The petition questions the Federal Ministry of Education’s sweeping pronouncement last year that implicated both Togo and the Benin Republic in academic fraud. According to Laori, diplomatic findings from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have cleared Togo of any wrongdoing, reaffirming the credibility of its educational institutions.

“The Republic of Togo has been cleared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The outstanding issue remains with the Republic of Benin,” Laori stated. The Committee has scheduled Thursday, July 10, 2025, for a new hearing on the Benin Republic, following a formal adjournment prompted by the absence of the lawyer representing the petitioners.

Similarly, the Committee also summoned the Federal Ministry of Education to appear before it and provide clarity on its 2024 directive regarding pre-qualification examinations for foreign degree holders. “This matter is adjourned to July 10, and we are issuing another summons to the Federal Ministry of Education. We need clarification on the pre-qualification examinations being imposed on graduates from the Benin Republic, which is currently affecting hundreds of Nigerian students and graduates,” Laori said.

The development follows a major sting operation in late 2024, when a Nigerian undercover journalist exposed a lucrative certificate-for-sale scheme in the Benin Republic, eliciting widespread public outrage and immediate administrative action by the federal government. Many civil servants were sacked for presenting degrees obtained from unaccredited private universities in both Togo and Benin between 2017 and 2024.