Nigeria, Jan. 5 -- The big story this week is that the Nigerian government has suspended the evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from universities in neighbouring Benin and Togo. The announcement comes a few days after an undercover report by Daily Nigerian exposed certificate racketeering from a university in Benin. The suspension stands pending the outcome of an investigation involving the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education of Nigeria and the two countries, as well as the State Security Service (SSS) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

It is interesting that the government is the last to find out that for decades, so many Nigerians have been obtaining their certificates from degree mills, i.e. institut...