Nigeria’s fake professors list that turned out to be fake
The media space has been agog with news of a purported list of fake professors currently in some federal, state and private universities nationwide.
The development followed the recent investigative report by a reporter with the Daily Nigerian Newspaper which exposed the activities of degree mills in Benin Republic and Togo.
The reporter, Umar Audu, revealed how he obtained a degree within six weeks and proceeded to participate in the one-year mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
Audu, who reached out to the syndicate that specialises in selling degree certificates in December 2022, was issued a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, Cotonou, Benin Republic in February 2023.
The buzz which followed the investigative report led to the suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from the neighbouring West African countries.
However, it didn’t end there. An old news item from 2019 which quoted a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, as saying that the regulatory agency uncovered about 100 fake professors in some Nigerian universities, surfaced again in the media space.
Though Rasheed explained the rationale behind tagging the “Professors” as fake, no list was attached to indicate a breakdown of the institutions with fake professors.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the trend started on X (formerlyTwitter) on January 6, 2024 when a netizen posted about a story which he read saying, “ The 100 Fake Professors story I just read I hope it is not true. If It is, then we are in for a rude shock.”
The individual would later go on to list about 23 Nigerian universities allegedly with fake professors namely;
1. University of Ibadan -11
2. Covenant University -4
3. Obafemi Awolowo University – 8
4. University of Lagos -5
5. University of Nigeria, Nsukka -9
6. Ahmadu Bello University -8
7. Federal University of Technology, Akure – 9
8. University of Ilorin -11
9. University of Port Harcourt – 8
10. Federal University of Technology, Minna –
11. University of Jos -8
12. Bayero University Kano -20
13. Ekiti State University -15
14. Nnamdi Azikiwe University -10
15. Usman Danfodio University -7
16. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – 7
17. Federal university of petroleum resources -12
18. Rivers State University -11
19. Michael Okpara University -11
20. Federal university of Technology, Owerri -15
21. Babcock University -9
22. American University -14
23. Redeemers University -9
The post, as of January 9, 2024, has generated over 100,000 impressions. When the creator was questioned on the source of his information, he referred to a 2019 news story by a television station.
A check on the link provided revealed that though the NUC claimed it uncovered 100 fake professors, there was no list attached.
The post led to a buzz with several media organisations ( The PUNCH not included) quoting the list as allegedly emanating from the NUC.
