THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Benin Republic has said over 15,000 Nigerian students were affected in the country by the recent ban on certificate evaluations by the Nigerian government.
The NANS president in Benin Republic, Ugochukwu Favour, stated this on Thursday, January 4, on Channels TV’s breakfast show “Sunrise Daily”.
The suspension followed a report by an online newspaper, Daily Nigerian, which exposed how a Cotonou-based university issued a degree certificate to an undercover journalist within six weeks.
The report revealed how beneficiaries of these substandard certificates compete for jobs and other opportunities with hard-working graduates who undergo academic rigours for at least four years to obtain their degrees.
It also reported that the requirements for the fake degree are O-level certificates – fake or genuine – and money, which vary depending on the course, urgency and class of degree.
Following the revelation, the Federal Government, on Tuesday, January 2, suspended the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from the Benin Republic and Togo.
The Ministry of Education spokesperson, Augustina Obilor-Duru, said the government expressed concern over Nigerians resorting to unethical tactics to obtain degrees to secure job opportunities they aren’t qualified for.
However, Favour, the NANS president in Benin Republic, urged the government to take into consideration students who had rightfully secured their admissions.
“For now, I will say that the Federal Government should look into the issue. You can’t because it is happening in this school, punish everyone because it involved close to 15,000 students in the Benin Republic,” he said.
According to him, the government needs to intensify efforts to investigate the situation thoroughly and prosecute individuals linked to the incident, adding that NANS has formed a committee to look into the issue.
He said: “I have really not validated if it has been happening for a long time. This is just like what just came out on social media, and we are still trying to find out how long it has been happening.
“So, that is why I set up a committee as the president to investigate it.”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M