The House of Representatives has begun investigation into alleged certificate racketeering with students by some officials in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Chairman, Joint Committee on Certificate Racketeering, Abubakar Fulata, vowed to confront such menace in the tertiary institutions during its sitting in Abuja.

He said certificate racketeering could cripple the healthcare system and various sectors of the economy if allowed to go unchecked.

Mr Fulata said the House mandated its committees on University Education, Interior Foreign Affairs and Youths Development to investigate the matter and report back.

He said, “This has been a burning issue in both public and private institutions where there are seemingly less observance of rules, regulations, processes, quality assurance among others.’’

He said there was a need to get to the root of the act and proffer solutions, while appealing to MDAs and relevant stakeholders to cooperate with the committee to achieve the desired result.

A Nigerian reporter, Umar Audu had, in December 2022, bagged a degree from a university in Cotonou, Benin Republic, in six weeks and subsequently participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme.

Audu subsequently accused unnamed officials of the Ministry of Education as members of the racketeering syndicate; a development that elicited widespread criticisms by well-meaning Nigerians.

Leading the debate on the motion, Mr Fulata called on the House to “identify officials of MDAs and students who benefited from such institutions and their campuses in the last 10 years.

(NAN)