Over 22,000 Nigerian graduates who obtained degrees from universities in Togo and the Benin Republic between 2017 and the present are facing uncertainty following a recent decision to invalidate their certificates.
This concern was raised by the Coalition of Stakeholders in Education (CSE) during a press briefing in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday. The group urged the federal government to reconsider its blanket ban on certificates from higher institutions in these two West African countries.
Recently, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced that as part of efforts to combat the proliferation of degree mills, degrees obtained from universities in Togo and the Benin Republic since 2017 would no longer be recognized.
However, CSE leaders, including Dr. Shittu Sanny, Gabriel Kona, Abiola Daramola, and Hodonou Nohunun, criticized the government’s decision. They argued that the crackdown should target those who attended unaccredited institutions or acquired their certificates through fraudulent means, rather than imposing a blanket ban.
The group also took issue with the government’s recognition of only five public universities in Benin and three in Togo, excluding private universities in these nations from consideration.
“There are more than five universities accredited in Benin Republic and more than three in Togo. In Benin alone, we have eight public universities and 95 private universities accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
“A reliable source from the Ministry of Education in Benin informed us that the list of accredited institutions in Benin was given to the inter-ministerial committee that visited them early this year from Nigeria. That same list is downloadable from their official website.
“The minister’s pronouncement to invalidate these certificates to take effect in retrospect is unjustifiable. Is it not the same ministry that showed parents and students who wanted to study there the list of accredited institutions from where choices were made? Is it that the ministry has been misleading Nigerians all these years? Why did the ministry give evaluation to the graduates of these universities in the first place all these years?
“We are compelled to ask if diligent students who studied hard to acquire their credentials from these countries should suffer for the crime of a negligible few? Therefore, to punish more for the crime of few is not an option,” they stated.
Sanny, who said some stakeholders met with the Minister of State, Education, Dr Tanko Sunnunu, on June 30, this year over the issue, said the minister gave the assurance that students in accredited institutions which are also listed with the ministry had nothing to fear, and wondered why the sudden change of policy.
A graduate of a university in Benin Republic, who was also a former leader of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in the Diaspora, Silas Jime, opined that the policy was not well thought out.
“Before people sought admission into these foreign universities, they went to the Federal Ministry of Education to find out the list of accredited institutions and even the approved courses. People did that. They went and studied in those institutions and came back. Before they went for the National Youth Service Corps Scheme, NYSC, the same ministry evaluated their certificates, the NYSC also did same. How can you now just wake up and say those certificates are worthless?
“Another thing is that is the Nigerian government now saying there are no worthy private universities in those countries? Many Nigerians attended universities there. The current governor of Yobe State, Mala Buni, graduated from a university in Benin Republic,” he said.
Some of the students who were at the briefing also called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and order the minister and his team to do due diligence and not just slam a blanket ban on them and their certificates.
Recall that early this year, the federal government instituted a probe into activities of degree mills within and outside the country following an expose by a reporter of how he got a degree certificate from a university in Benin Republic within weeks.
He was also mobilised for the NYSC scheme for a second time after filing the necessary data using the certificate from Benin Republic.
