Credential fraud is one of the oldest scams in the global workplace, where job applicants either falsify or exaggerate their qualifications, work experience, academic credentials, or professional references.
A 2023 Job Applicant Behaviour Survey by ResumeLab revealed that seven out of ten applicants lie on their resumes by embellishing their job titles, overstating the length of employment, or exaggerating the number of people managed. Some say they worked at a fake company or claim they got their degrees from institutions they didn’t attend.
These unethical practices have forced recruiters and employers to adopt stringent measures to verify claims made by candidates they are interested in hiring to protect the company from liabilities. Employers cannot afford to take chances with verification for highly specialised roles, like in the medical field, for instance, as their skills are used to care for people.
Enter innovative verification solutions: Akowe Verify
Nigeria’s job market heavily depends on academic and professional certifications; credential fraud is a risk to employers, calling for both reliable and innovative verification solutions.
Moreover, over the past two decades, verification has quickly become a structured industry in Nigeria, with companies dedicated to verification springing up. This is reflected in the more than 12 organisations under the Society for Professional Background Check.
Background Check International (BCI), for instance, is touted as the pioneer of the country’s background screening industry.
The 20-year-old Nigerian-founded identity verification company has spent the past two decades sensitising Nigerians to the need to adopt background checks to curtail fraudulent activities.
At the start, the company only focused on employment screening but has since diversified into other services, including tenant background checks, vendor background checks, pensioners background checks, and spouse background checks, helping employers confirm the validity of academic and professional credentials.
An even more streamlined solution is Akowe Verify, a platform employers and HR firms can use to search and verify the academic records of Nigerian graduates. This tool allows recruiters and employers to confirm whether candidates graduated from the institutions they claim and verify the grades and degrees awarded.
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For its initial rollout, Akowe Verify has uploaded a database of graduates from seven prestigious Nigerian universities, covering records from the past five years. It covers the University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Covenant University, University of Ilorin, and the University of Ibadan.
The startup bypassed the challenge of accessing institutional digital databases by leveraging publicly available academic records. Using convocation publications, which list graduating students, Akowe Verify extracted and digitised this information to make it searchable.
“These are public academic records. We didn’t have to do any collaboration or partnership,” Ayodeji Agboola, CEO, Akowe explains.
While partnerships with universities are in the pipeline, the platform’s urgency in tackling credential fraud inspired this independent approach.
Akowe Verify currently validates academic claims using six data points, including the candidate’s name, institution, faculty, degree, grade, and year of graduation. Future plans involve introducing peer verification, where individuals can confirm others’ credentials based on shared academic history and earn verification scores.
Although sectors like tech may prioritise skills over degrees, industries like banking, oil and gas, and immigration rely heavily on verified credentials, according to Agboola, making a solution like Akowe Verify a critical asset. Beyond convenience, the CEO notes that Akowe Verify represents a revenue opportunity for educational institutions.
“Schools already get paid for verification services when employers ask, but because of the slow and tedious process, recruiters would prefer to use third-party services.”
Each verification request through Akowe Verify costs ₦20,000, and Agboola believes this is a scalable and efficient alternative. By incentivising schools to digitise their academic records, the platform aims to expand its reach and address broader verification needs, including transcripts and professional certifications.
For more generalised background check platforms, they carry out verification for the following:
- National identity
- Criminal record
- Credit record
- Social media
- Personal reference
- Previous employer
- WAEC/NECO certificate
- NYSC certificate
The legality of background checks
Recruitment background checks often occur later in the hiring process for practical and legal reasons. Except for being involved in unethical practices, certain undisclosed information isn’t demanded at the early stage of recruitment.
Besides, it will be impractical to conduct background checks at the first stage when there is a large pool of applications, considering the costs and administrative burdens that will accompany them.
Additionally, legal frameworks in various jurisdictions impose restrictions on how and when background checks can be conducted.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), alongside laws such as the Labour Act 2004 and the Cybercrime Act, mandates that background screening respects an individual’s privacy rights. Employers must obtain explicit consent from candidates before accessing their personal information.
This consent is typically sought after a conditional job offer is made, ensuring compliance with privacy laws while reducing the risk of discrimination during the hiring process.
Similar regulations exist internationally to protect candidates. For example, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) prohibits employers from asking about certain personal characteristics during hiring to prevent bias.
These legal safeguards ensure that background checks are conducted fairly and transparently, focusing solely on job-relevant criteria.
Recruitment experts advise employers to engage accredited third-party verification companies to handle these processes. Such companies offer expertise and credibility, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of background check results.
This approach also shields employers from legal liabilities that could arise from improper handling of personal data. By outsourcing to trusted verification providers, recruiters can meet legal requirements while maintaining the integrity of their hiring processes.