NIGERIA IS LOSING A GENERATION: HOW ASUU STRIKES AND CERTIFICATE FRAUD ARE DESTROYING OUR FUTURE

 NIGERIA IS LOSING A GENERATION: HOW ASUU STRIKES AND CERTIFICATE FRAUD ARE DESTROYING OUR FUTURE


By Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

October 14, 2025



Every time the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declares a strike, it's not just a halt in academic activities, it's another nail in the coffin of Nigeria’s already fragile education system. It is another blow to the dreams of millions of young Nigerians and a signal to the world that we are not serious about our future.


For too long, we have tolerated the tragic normalisation of university strikes as though they are routine academic holidays. They are not. They are a national emergency. They are a betrayal of students, of parents, and of the very promise of Nigeria as a nation.



A SYSTEM DESIGNED TO FAIL ITS YOUTH.

Since 1999, Nigeria has seen more than 20 ASUU strikes, some lasting months, others over a year. The most recent major strike in 2022 lasted eight grueling months. This constant disruption has made the academic calendar unpredictable, draining the enthusiasm and momentum of students and lecturers alike.


A four-year degree now takes six years  or more. During these enforced academic pauses, students lose time they never regain. The psychological toll is enormous, depression, frustration, disillusionment. Young people age out of job markets, lose scholarship opportunities, and become increasingly vulnerable to destructive alternatives like crime, drugs, and online fraud. 


These are not just statistics. These are real people  real dreams frozen by an education system that has become structurally unserious.



STRIKES BREED CHAOS: A HOTBED FOR FAKE CERTIFICATES.

When local universities fail, desperation drives students to seek alternatives  and unfortunately, many of these alternatives are scams in disguise.


The Benin Republic certificate saga exposed a rotten underbelly of education fraud. In 2023, an undercover journalist obtained a fake degree from a Cotonou university in under six weeks  without attending a single class.The report shocked the nation and forced the Federal Government to suspend degree accreditation from Benin and Togo. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.


In August 2024, the Federal Government confirmed that over 22,000 Nigerians had acquired fake certificates from these foreign diploma mills. Some of them now work in sensitive government positions. 


But even more troubling is the emergence of fake degrees within Nigeria. At Ambrose Alli University (AAU), lecturers were accused of running a certificate and transcript racketeering ring producing forged documents for a fee. 


In January 2025, a sitting Minister  Uche Nnaji  admitted that his degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, had never actually been awarded. 


When institutions fail to offer credible education, they create space for impostors to flourish. And in such a nation, no certificate is safe. No qualification is sacred.



THE STAKES ARE HIGHER THAN WE THINK.

Nigeria’s youth are being crippled in their most formative years. The long-term consequences are already manifesting:


i. A disillusioned workforce, Many graduates feel unprepared and demotivated after years of intermittent learning and rushed syllabi.


ii. Brain drain: Talented youth flee to foreign countries not for luxury, but for academic stability.


iii. National decline: With fewer well-trained professionals, every sector  health, engineering, law, education  suffers. Development becomes a mirage.


Even worse, we are watching a growing mistrust in education itself. When students see that corruption and shortcuts produce results faster than hard work and sacrifice, we lose something far more important than classroom time  we lose values.



THE WAY FORWARD: THE GOVERNMENT MUST ACT NOW.

Enough of the blame game between ASUU and the Federal Government. Nigerian students are not pawns in a negotiation. If we are to save this generation  and the next  we must take urgent, bold, and systemic action:


1. Honor past agreements: ASUU’s core grievances from unpaid allowances to infrastructure funding  are not unreasonable. The government must stop making empty promises.


2. TETFund should be strengthened and insulated from political interference to enable it to effectively discharge its responsibilities independently of political cycles, thereby helping to stabilize the university system, especially during times of crisis.


3. Introduce performance-linked funding, Universities should be funded based on measurable outputs  research quality, graduate employability, and infrastructure development.


4. Digitize academic records: Prevent fraud by making transcripts and certificates tamper-proof and publicly verifiable.


5. Blacklist diploma mills: Publish a national list of unaccredited foreign and local institutions. Enforce sanctions on employers who accept fake degrees.


6. Prosecute fraud: Any university official or politician caught forging or using fake certificates must face immediate legal action. No sacred cows.


7. Student representation in decision-making: Students should have a voice in key administrative decisions. Transparency builds trust.


8. Use alternative dispute resolution: Prevent strikes through binding arbitration before crises escalate.


A FINAL WARNING AND A CRY FOR HOPE.

We are standing on the edge of a national tragedy  a slow-motion collapse of our intellectual future. A country where degrees are bought, not earned, where learning is delayed or denied, where hope is crushed before it is even tested.


Moreso, Nigeria cannot develop faster than its education system. If we continue to fail our youth, they will, in turn, fail the country  not out of choice, but because we gave them nothing better.


To President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the Minister of Education, to the National Assembly: the time to act is now. No more summits. No more committees. Just action.


A nation that toys with the education of its youth is a nation scripting its own downfall.


History will remember what you did  or didn’t do  at this moment.


 Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

Executive Director 

Responsive citizens Initiative

responsivecitizensinitiative@gmail.com

Wrote from zawaciki, Kano

October 14, 2025

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