In response to rumors that it was prohibited by the Nigerian federal government for awarding dubious degrees, the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has responded.
The esteemed Ghanaian university made it clear in a statement dated January 4, 2024, that it neither runs direct operations in Nigeria nor has it given permission to any institution to administer its programs there.
According to media reports, eighteen (18) tertiary institutions, including three Ghanaian universities—UCC, University of Education, Winneba, and Volta University College, Ho—have been prohibited by Nigeria from conducting business there.
However, UCC asked the public to ignore the reports in response to them.
“The University of Cape Coast (UCC) does not have any outlet or campus operating in Nigeria, neither has it granted a franchise to any institution in Nigeria to run its programmes.
”All international students, including Nigerians, wishing to study at UCC apply directly to the University for consideration.
”Management wishes to assure its cherished stakeholders and the general public that the University holds very dear its solid brand as an excellent academic institution with world-wide acclaim and, for that matter, would not do anything untoward to tannish its hard-won reputation ‘as the Number One University in Ghana and West Africa, and the Seventh in Africa, according to the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings,” the statement read in part.
Eighteen foreign universities have been targeted by the Nigerian government, which has labeled them “degree mills” and advised Nigerians not to enroll in them.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) imposed the ban, which also affects universities in neighboring countries like Togo and Benin. The United States has five universities affected, and the United Kingdom has six.
The NUC made it clear in an official statement posted on its website that the impacted universities had been closed because they did not have the required federal government license.
According to the statement, “The National Universities Commission wishes to announce to the general public, especially parents and prospective undergraduates that the under-listed ‘degree mills’ have not been licensed by the Federal Government and have therefore been closed down for violating the Education (National Minimum Standards, etc.) Act of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
This action is a reaction to a journalist’s investigative report that exposed dishonest practices in the conferment of degrees by Benin and Togo universities. The Daily Nigerian exposé exposed a thriving certificate racketeering syndicate that sold university degrees to willing buyers in Nigeria, especially in neighboring African countries.
The undercover investigation described how a reporter paid a “reasonable rate” to obtain a university degree from Cotonou in less than six weeks. According to the transcript and certificate, the reporter allegedly started the program in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022, using the official scan code of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Benin Republic.
