It is exceedingly difficult to have a nation teeming with a critical mass of upright, forthright, scrupulous and incorruptible young people when the elites and the political class whom they should ideally look up to and emulate are insincere, selfish men and women of questionable character. A motley crowd of carpetbaggers and rentseekers who hold the country hostage and stunt its growth.
When many sociologists and socio-economic commentators want to prattle about the ills and dysfunction of Nigerian societies, how the country has slid into lawlessness, how honesty and scrupule have become a rare traits, how society has come to accept ignoble behaviour and embrace disreputable practices, how morals and good values have been dissolved into the slops of decadence and perversion, they are quick to point fingers at the common man, they lay the blame at the feet of the average Nigerian and adroitly excuse the system and leadership that made this situation possible in the first place.
The perversion and shadiness, that have crept into every aspect of our nation’s leadership and have become a feature rather than a bug, a norm rather than an exception, have been brought to light again and pushed to the front burner of public discourse. In the last week, traditional, digital, and social media have been replete with reports of Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji, being embroiled in a certificate scandal. The minister has been in the eye of the storm for over two years now. Questions and scrutiny began over the credibility and authenticity of his education and academic credentials after he was nominated as a minister by President Bola Tinubu in 2023.
He became the subject of an investigation by an online newspaper, Premium Times. The outcome of the investigation reveals that the minister did not graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and that he did not participate in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. It also revealed that the certificate of UNN and the NYSC discharge certificate presented for screening are fake. Both institutions, UNN and NYSC have confirmed the reports exposing the criminal and dishonourable action of the minister. They stated that the certificates being paraded by Nnaji did not emanate from them.
The exposé on Nnaji is not the first time a high-ranking government official has been caught in the dark web of a certificate scandal. In fact, President Tinubu, who appointed Nnaji as a minister, was a subject of a high-profile and widely publicised certificate scandal in the build-up to the 2023 elections and questions over the authenticity of the certificates he parades still dominate public discourse long after he was sworn in as president. If Nigerians cannot make a definite stance and a bold claim that vouches for the genuineness and veracity of their president’s academic credentials and certificates, then it will not come as a surprise if the same president appoints a serial certificate forger as a minister. You can’t give what you don’t have.
It is difficult to have a progressive and developed nation built on honesty and integrity when the people who are supposed to exemplify these traits embody the very opposite of such values and have become the source of the country’s decay and retrogression. It is exceedingly difficult to have a nation teeming with a critical mass of upright, forthright, scrupulous and incorruptible young people when the elites and the political class whom they should ideally look up to and emulate are insincere, selfish men and women of questionable character. A motley crowd of carpetbaggers and rentseekers who hold the country hostage and stunt it’s growth.
Certificate forgery is a grave criminal offence in all countries of the world. The punishment for anyone found guilty of it is swift and severe. But in Nigeria, such an offence is treated with kid gloves and the offender, depending on which side of the political divide he or she is on, either gets a slap on the wrist or is completely let off the hook without any punishment. What is even more troubling with these certificate scandals involving those occupying coveted and high-level offices is that they pass through multiple stages of scrutiny and examination. In the case of Nnaji, the parliament, security agencies and other apparatus that are tasked with spotting such criminality either failed to do their job or were compromised and greenlit the approval of such an unscrupulous character.
Nigeria does not treat certificate forgery with the gravitas it requires. It’s an abnormality that’s become normalised. Despite having clearly defined and unambiguous laws against forgery that spell out the penalty for anyone found culpable, public institutions charged with enforcing these laws have largely wavered in their responsibilities. Their disposition and body language somewhat condone such a crime. The situation has become progressively worse in recent years. People found guilty of certificate forgery, including the president, governors and ministers, are allowed to carry on like everything is fine and nothing untoward has happened. They are not disqualified even if the forgery is detected before the election or selection for public offices. And even if the story of their ugly and disreputable acts comes to public knowledge after they are sworn into office, they are not removed. The law does not take its expected course against them. They stay on to desecrate the lofty and sacred public office with their tainted image.
For elective positions, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) makes no effort to meticulously scrutinise certificates before the elections; it either ignores or treats complaints of forgery with scant regard. The court, instead of treating this betrayal of public trust and violation of the nation’s laws with the seriousness and commitment it deserves, shies away from its responsibility and lets such egregious behaviour go unpunished under the pretext of a technicality. The court often dismisses these serious criminal issues as “pre-election matters” without handing out the appropriate punishment for this nation-damaging criminal act.
If we are to move forward as a nation there must be a frank, genuine and honest conversation about how to achieve that. We have to ditch a system that sees nothing wrong in certificate forgery and root out those who made such a system a possibility in the first place. Allowing people with fictitious and fake academic credentials and other forged documents in our public offices and institutions not only shuts out competent, qualified and capable minds, but it also erodes the nation’s value and ethos. It places selfish goals of certain individuals over national interest and therefore undermines the nation’s growth and development. It destroys the credibility and image of our nation on the international scene.
In the case of Nnaji, as it is with past certificate forgers in public offices, Nigerians are not holding their breath or expecting anything different from what has become a normalised reality. They are not expecting a suspension from office, followed by non-politicised, meticulous and thorough prosecution by the appropriate authorities that will lead to a jail term. One can only hope they are proven wrong.
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