The Nigerian government has announced a ban on 18 foreign universities operating illegally in the country, describing them as “degree mills.”

The National Universities Commission (NUC) published the directive which affects 5 American, 6 British, and 3 Ghanaian institutions not licensed to operate in Nigeria. The regulatory body stated these unauthorized schools have been closed down for violating education laws.

Among the banned universities are University of Applied Sciences & Management (Benin Republic), Volta University College (Ghana), International University Missouri’s Nigerian campuses, London External Studies, Irish University Business School London, University of Education Winneba (Ghana) and Cape Coast University (Ghana).

The NUC warned prospective undergraduates and parents against enrolling at the outlawed institutions. It reiterated that running unaccredited degree programs contravenes the Education Act.

In a related development, the Ministry of Education has temporarily stopped evaluating degree certificates from Benin and Togo. This followed an investigative report exposing a certificate racket where officials in a Benin university issued fake degrees for a fee.

The ministry strongly condemned the scam uncovered by the report. It decried desperate attempts by some Nigerians to obtain degrees through illegal means.

With the ban on unauthorized universities and scrutiny of suspicious foreign qualifications, Nigeria aims to sanitize its education sector and stop the proliferation of “degree mill” campuses.