The LASU certificate scandal

HARDLY a day goes by nowadays without a report of an untoward incident or practice that highlights the depths of the depravity that Nigeria has incontestably fallen into as a society.  The latest confirmation comes in the shape of media reports that highly placed officials of the Lagos State University (LASU) have for some time been involved in certificate racketeering and extortion. According to unidentified whistleblowers, a syndicate with connections at the highest echelons of the university administration was in the habit of giving away genuine and properly authenticated certificates of the university for amounts ranging between N2m and N3m to members of the public who were in need of such, even though they had never set foot on the university campus and had registered for no classes.

Stunned by the report, the Lagos State House of Assembly has invited the State Education Commissioner, Mr. Tolani Akibu, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, members of the Senate and other highly placed officials of the university to testify before it. For its part, the administration of the university has moved to relieve the Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Tajudeen Olumoko, of his position. Both the State House of Assembly and the university administration have done the right thing.

Nevertheless, neither can afford to stop there. In addition to gathering evidence from the administrators, the Assembly owes a duty to members of the public to drill down to the root of the matter and find out what exactly took place, for how long, and the names of the people involved on both sides of this trade. How many people got how many ‘genuine’ certificates without having attended a single class, how much did they pay, and who did they pay it to? An investigative panel would be a good idea. The same thing applies to the LASU authorities. While the removal of Professor Olumoko as Dean of Student Affairs is welcome, the administration must go on to find out precisely what happened. It is important for the sake of the image of the university that the truth be allowed to come out and those found complicit made to face the music.

While this particular case is about LASU, we have no doubt that it is the entire Nigerian society that is ultimately on trial. For far too long, practices such as the one under investigation here have become ingrained across the Nigerian society, leading to a situation whereby it is impossible to separate the fake from the authentic. In a country riddled with various kinds of fakery, Nigerians have become accustomed to fake lawyers, fake doctors, fake soldiers, fake police officers, and fake certificates. The scandal at LASU merely puts a different spin on a familiar problem.

We hope that both the Lagos House of Assembly and the LASU administration will get to the bottom of this. Nigerians are watching.

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