Two civil society groups have called on the Federal Government to ban former Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji from holding public office.
According to Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and HallowMace Foundation Africa, such an action will dissuade those planning to forge certificate in future.
Nnaji, accused of using forged University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) Degree certificate and a fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, resigned from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Tuesday, having failed to defend his integrity.
CISLAC and HallowMace called on the National Assembly to apologise to Nigerians for what it termed an international embarrassment arising from its institutional failure.
In a telephone interview with reporters yesterday, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), said that Nnaji was busy trading blames, when all material evidence had indicted him, hence, he should never be allowed to hold public office again.
“He did not resign on his own volition. He was forced by the public, the media, and the civil society to resign. He didn’t resign as an honourable man. He actually went to court to stop the university from releasing his record. In fact, we should ban him from public office for life,” he stated.
Also, in a statement jointly signed by its Executive Director, Anderson Osiebe, and its Head of Public Communications, Oguh Hyginus, HallowMace Foundation Africa maintained that the Nigerian public deserved transparent and accountable institutions that serve as effective gatekeepers against fraudulent public officers.
“The sequence of events in Minister Nnaji’s case reveals catastrophic failures in the verification systems designed to prevent such occurrences.
“According to the timeline of events, University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, clearly stated in May 2025 that they had no record of issuing a degree certificate to Nnaji in 1985, and this position was reaffirmed in October 2025. Why wasn’t this basic verification conducted during the screening process in 2023?
“The leadership of screening institutions should issue public apologies to the Nigerian people for this grave failure of due diligence and outline concrete steps being taken to prevent recurrences.
“If with their extensive resources and mandate, they could not authenticate a certificate from a Nigerian institution, what confidence can citizens have in their ability to vet appointees for critical national positions?” the civil society organisation stated.