President and co-founder, Centre for the Development of Technical Economic and Commercial Learning, Prof Tunde Adeyemi has refuted the claim that only three universities are officially accredited to award degrees in the Republic of Togo.
The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman had during a press conference to mark his one year in office disclosed that over 22,500 Nigerians obtained fake degree certificates from the two countries, saying such certificates would be cancelled.
However, in a swift reaction, Adeyemi who spoke with journalists in Lagos said, “The statement from the minister of education that only three institutions or universities are accredited to award degrees in the Republic of Togo has been debunked by the Ministry of Higher Learning in Togo to be a misinterpretation of information.
He added that, “The logical explanation to this is that the committee from the Nigerian Ministry of Education misinterpreted the information from the ministry in Togo as they were informed of the structure of academics in Togo which is also being employed in other French-speaking countries, developed countries in Europe, Asia and America.
“They were informed about the French education ranking of higher learning institutions that awarded degrees, which are universities that consist of faculties, colleges, institutes, centres and higher colleges with all the above categories are degree-awarding institutions.”
He further stated that apart from the three universities mentioned by the Nigerian ministry, there are over 40 degree-awarding institutions in the Republic of Togo made available to the committee on diplomatic channels for further clarification.
He implored the Nigerian ministry and the general public to access the lists of some of the private higher institutions in Togo, through the registered association by the Ministry of Higher Learning in the Republic of Togo from a dedicated website.
According to him, the Nigerian privately owned Centre for the Development of Technical, Economics and Commercial Learning is fully registered and accredited by the Togolese government to award degrees in various accredited courses of specialisation with over two decades of accreditation intact from 2003 to the current renewal due in 2029.
