Ayodele Adebayo
I write as a concerned citizen, stakeholder, and advocate for regional cooperation and the advancement of education in West Africa. It is with deep respect for the constitutional duties of your office and a profound belief in the spirit of reform that I pen this open letter urging the Federal Government to reconsider the blanket ban placed on the recognition of academic certificates issued by tertiary institutions in the Republic of Benin.
This decision, though well-intended in the fight against educational fraud, has brought about a cascade of unintended consequences—many of them detrimental to innocent students, their families, and the broader aspirations of Nigeria’s regional integration in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
You may still recall that early last year, the Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, announced the suspension of evaluation and recognition of certificates obtained from certain foreign institutions, particularly those based in the Republic of Benin and Togo. This action was prompted by a revealing investigative report that exposed illicit “certificate racketeering” by a few unaccredited institutions and their proxy agents in Nigeria.
The résumé justifiably raised serious concerns over the legitimacy and integrity of some academic institutions operating in the sub-region. The government, in response, imposed a sweeping ban that affects not just the fraudulent players, but also law-abiding students who studied in fully accredited, quality-driven universities in the Republic of Benin.
The intention of the ban—to protect Nigeria’s educational system and ensure the sanctity of qualifications used within our national space—is noble and commendable. However, the approach adopted—a sweeping prohibition without due differentiation or structured recourse—has produced outcomes that are grossly unfair, diplomatically unsettling, and economically damaging.
On the human cost of the ban, it is important to underscore the scale of impact this policy has had on thousands of young Nigerians. Many of these students pursued their education in the Republic of Benin not out of negligence or lack of patriotism, but due to systemic limitations at home: limited university admission slots, chronic industrial actions, infrastructural decay, and prohibitive costs in private institutions.
For them, the Republic of Benin offered an accessible, accredited, and affordable option. These students invested not just money, but also time, sacrifice, and diligence in acquiring their degrees. Many have since returned to Nigeria, some with distinction and fluency in French, bringing with them valuable regional exposure and academic competence.
Now, through no fault of theirs, these graduates are suddenly told that their qualifications are null and void within the land of their birth. They are being denied evaluation by the Federal Ministry of Education, excluded from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), rejected by employers, and marginalized in professional spaces.
The trauma, humiliation, and social disruption this has caused are immense. Many of them have been rendered unemployable. Others are being forced to seek migration or re-enrollment elsewhere, incurring fresh financial and emotional strain on their families. Some parents had to sell assets to send their children abroad for education—only to now watch those dreams collapse in a sea of bureaucratic uncertainty.
Your Excellency, while the government has every right to defend its academic space from fraudulent practices, it is critical to differentiate between legitimate institutions and diploma mills. There are universities in the Republic of Benin that have received full accreditation from their national regulatory body—the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur—and operate with academic rigor, transparent governance, and international standards.
Some of these institutions maintain exchange programs with universities in France, Canada, and other Francophone nations. They are members of reputable educational networks and are recognized by the West African Higher Education Quality Assurance frameworks. Indeed, many Nigerian academics serve as visiting lecturers and external examiners in some of these schools.
By adopting a one-size-fits-all policy, the Nigerian government has inadvertently discredited genuine institutions and stifled efforts to build a harmonized and competitive regional education system, which is a key component of the ECOWAS integration agenda.
On diplomatic repercussions, the current policy may also have adverse implications for Nigeria’s foreign relations, particularly with its Francophone neighbors. It is important to recall that the Republic of Benin and Nigeria enjoy longstanding bilateral relations, including several treaties on education, cultural exchange, and regional cooperation.
The wholesale invalidation of their educational institutions’ certificates sends an unfavorable signal of distrust and superiority, which may erode mutual respect. Moreover, it violates the spirit of the ECOWAS Protocol on Education and Article 3 of the Revised ECOWAS Treaty, which encourage member states to promote equivalence and comparability of academic qualifications.
While Nigeria has every right to safeguard its internal standards, such actions must be undertaken with sensitivity to international obligations and neighborly diplomacy. The alternative is to risk being perceived as dismissive or domineering—a perception that contradicts Nigeria’s leadership role in the region.
Your Excellency, here is a list of policy suggestions on the way forward:
1. Strengthened Accreditation and Evaluation Mechanism:
The Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission and the West African Quality Assurance bodies, can develop a whitelist of accredited foreign universities, including those in the Republic of Benin, whose certificates are eligible for evaluation. This list should be dynamic, evidence-based, and updated periodically.
2. Reinforce Student Verification Systems:
Rather than punishing all certificate holders, a transparent verification process should be instituted. Each graduate from a foreign institution can be mandated to submit an academic transcript, reference letters, and a digital verification code from the issuing university.
3. Targeted Sanctions Against Offending Institutions:
Instead of a blanket ban, the government should identify specific diploma mills and blacklist them publicly. Those institutions that do not meet academic and infrastructural standards should be named and disallowed, while legitimate universities are spared the stigma.
4. Strengthen Nigeria’s Domestic Capacity:
The underlying demand for foreign education often stems from the limited access to quality and affordable education in Nigeria. Expanding university admission capacity, improving public university infrastructure, and resolving recurrent strikes can drastically reduce the outflow of Nigerian students.
Ayodele Adebayo, Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, ESAE University, Benin
5. Public Awareness and Student Advisory Services:
Many students fall victim to fraudulent institutions due to lack of access to verified information. The Nigerian embassies in neighboring countries should set up Educational Advisory Desks to guide prospective students on accredited institutions and available support mechanisms.
6. Regional Academic Integration:
Nigeria should spearhead efforts to create a Regional Academic Integrity Framework through ECOWAS, where member states agree to uphold standardized accreditation, curriculum transparency, and student mobility without compromising educational quality.
Appeal for Compassion and Justice
Your Excellency, many of the young Nigerians affected by this policy are innocent. They made a choice in good faith, based on the best information available to them at the time. They have abided by the law, paid school fees, lived in foreign lands, learned new languages, and earned their degrees through years of discipline and sacrifice.
To render their efforts worthless now is not only unjust—it is antithetical to the values of empathy, justice, and equity that your administration espouses under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Hope cannot be renewed by breaking the wings of young people trying to soar above limitations.
This is a generation already burdened by unemployment, inflation, insecurity, and social instability. The government must be seen not just as a regulator, but as a builder of bridges—especially for its youth.
As I conclude, Your Excellency, being a nation with continental aspirations, Nigeria must lead with vision and pragmatism. We cannot afford to burn down a forest because of a few poisonous trees. We must isolate and remove the fraudulent players in our regional academic space, but we must also protect the innocent, restore confidence, and reform our oversight systems.
I respectfully urge your administration to lift the blanket ban on certificates issued by all universities in the Republic of Benin and adopt a more refined, evidence-based, and just approach to foreign academic qualifications. Let us not bury the future of thousands of Nigerian youths in the rubble of hasty policy.
Education is a passport to the future. Let us not cancel those passports.
