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A committee in Nigeria, led by the Minister of Education, is investigating degree racketeering and degree mills. Affiliated institutions in several countries are under scrutiny. The committee seeks to address breaches in the accreditation process for both local and foreign universities, following revelations of fraudulent practices highlighted in an investigative report. Experts suggest improving accreditation processes and public awareness to combat the issue.

The new Globethics.net University Ranking (GUR) will provide a unique global ranking instrument that places values, ethics, and sustainability as central principles of higher education institutions worldwide. It encompasses a new higher education framework to assess student learning experience, and key stakeholders on integrity, values-driven leadership, and sustainability commitment. Universidad de Santiago, a private institution in Cape Verde, received the highest overall score and gained the best marks for student sustainability and integrity.

Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) had discovered fake institutions in Benin awarding PhD degrees after students completed bogus studies in less than one year. According to NUC, academic projects and theses were sold for about NGN3,000 (about US$7.32) per copy, and sexual harassment was prevalent. Many of these fraudulent institutions are run by Nigerian proprietors who target students from Nigeria, where public universities struggle to accommodate a high number of qualified students seeking admission.

A report on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) by the Presidential Visitation Panel, which is investigating the affairs of UNILAG between 2016 and 2020, has revealed that two of the states of the Federation of Nigeria, namely Lagos and Ogun, lost NGN2.9 billion (US$7 million) due to gross under-deduction of staff salaries over five years by the institution. The seven-member panel detected cases of contract splitting and frivolous contract awards.

Examination fraud remains the main challenge for the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), especially amongst parents who constantly ask for their children to receive favorable treatment, regardless of whether they meet requirements. JAMB is also fighting corruption in higher education institutions that admit students outside of the guidelines of the Ministry of Education.

The demand for higher education in Nigeria is significant and the 79 private and 91 federal and state universities cannot meet the need. Nevertheless, the Nigerian government will no longer allow illegal satellite campuses and affiliations with foreign unaccredited universities. This follows the release by the National Universities Commission in February of a list of about 60 illegal universities which were closed because they failed to meet the minimum education standards.

According to a professor from Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), over 400 candidates seeking admission into higher education institutions across the country have been involved in admissions fraud. JAMB has discovered up to 96 cases of computer-based test irregularities in the North, with universities making changes to photographs and biometrics of candidates. This is contrary to a call by the Minister of Education who said institutions should not take any new photographs or biometrics of candidates after registration, in order to stop impersonations.

After verifying 4,473 employees in the state's three senatorial regions, the Benue State Education Service Board removed 18 dead teachers among the 433 ghost workers found on the state government payroll Moreover, 70 retirees and 193 redeployed employees were uncovered among other irregularities on the payroll such as the lack of utility vehicles and overhead costs. The state Governor charged TBS to ensure the ghost names are deleted from the payment voucher.

The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) revealed that about 100 fake professors were discovered in the university system. Academics across the country expressed their surprise by asking for concrete evidence. However, according to a Ph.D. student at the Nasarawa State University, the revelation by the NUC Secretary may be targeting the hundreds of professors parading themselves in government offices who have not conducted any research or teaching in the last 20 years.