Scam Alert: ICPC Reveals Universities Issuing Degrees In Record Time

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has exposed a foreign-operated bank account allegedly used to collect payments from Nigerians seeking to obtain questionable six-week bachelor’s degrees from abroad.

This startling revelation was made by ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, during a stakeholders’ advocacy session on asset tracing, recovery, and management, held on Tuesday in Abuja.

The event was hosted by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI), with support from the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

“In just a few weeks, we uncovered that a foreign national opened a Nigerian bank account which was receiving payments from Nigerian students pursuing a dubious six-week degree,” Dr. Aliyu stated.

He added that the ICPC had successfully traced the account and secured a civil forfeiture order, while efforts are ongoing to bring the offenders—particularly those outside Nigeria—to justice.

Dr. Aliyu also stressed the importance of deeper collaboration between anti-corruption bodies to ensure that perpetrators of financial crimes are denied the benefits of their unlawful activities.

In the same event, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Dr. Abdullahi Bello, disclosed that a review of over 10,000 asset declarations from public officials revealed that nearly 20% were inaccurate.

Meanwhile, GIABA’s Director-General, Edwin Harris, highlighted the alarming growth of illicit financial flows from Africa, citing a report by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, which showed annual losses rising from $50 billion to between $88 billion and $94 billion.