The Coalition of Stakeholders in Education in the Republic of Benin has called for the reversal of the ban on degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo.
During a press conference on Monday, CSE leaders, including Dr Shittu Sanny, Gabriel Kona, Abiola Daramola, and Hodonou Nohunun, urged the government to focus on sanctioning individuals who attended unaccredited institutions or obtained their certificates through dubious means, rather than penalising all graduates from these countries.
Kona criticised the Minister of Education’s recent announcement, calling the invalidation of these certificates retroactively unjustifiable.
This press conference was in response to comments made by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, regarding higher institutions in Benin Republic and Togo.
Mamman stated, “In the case of Togo, we have three universities that are officially approved and licensed to offer degrees, and in Benin, there are about five of them. Anyone who didn’t attend these universities is parading a fake certificate.”
He further claimed that data from the National Youth Service Corps revealed that 21,684 students from Benin Republic and 1,105 from Togo had obtained fake certificates between 2019 and 2023.
Kona pointed out several discrepancies in the Minister’s speech, noting that there were more than five accredited universities in Benin and more than three in Togo.
“In Benin alone, there are eight public universities and 95 private universities accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research,” he stated.
He also explained that the three-year program in Benin Republic and Togo is equivalent to the four-year bachelor’s program in Nigeria, with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System used to compare credits across institutions in Europe and Africa.
Kona emphasised that Benin’s educational policy allowed for instruction in English, making the language of instruction a non-issue.
He said, “Reliable sources from the Ministry of Education in Benin informed us that the list of accredited institutions in Benin was provided to the inter-ministerial committee that visited earlier this year. The Minister’s retroactive invalidation of these certificates is unjustifiable. Has the Federal Ministry of Education been misleading Nigerian students all these years? What happens to the money paid by students for certificate evaluations? Why did the Ministry issue evaluations to these graduates for seven years?”
Sanny called for assistance for the already traumatised Nigerian students and graduates from Benin and Togo, saying as a concerned father figure, President Bola Tinubu should intervene to save these students from the deprivation and uncertainty they currently face.
