The Federal Government has banned 18 foreign universities operating in Nigeria, describing them as “degree mills,’’ warning Nigerians to avoid enrolling in them.

The directive affected five universities from the United States, six from the United Kingdom, and three Ghanaian tertiary institutions.

Also, the Federal Ministry of Education on Tuesday announced the temporary suspension of evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from the Republic of Benin and Togo, after an undercover investigative report exposed how some officials of the Beninese University produced fake university degrees for a fee.

Announcing the ban in a statement published on its website, the National Universities Commission explained that the Federal Government had not licensed the affected universities and they had been closed down.