Opinion

That degree in Cotonou

 

By Adnan Tudunwada

Nigerians running to Cotonou to bag a degree in one year, some for seven or nine months is taking a new shape. The annoying thing is how these graduates are mobilised for NYSC in a rush.
The duration of the degree programme is what make Nigerians lament and continue to question the authenticity of that degree by continuing to tag it as a fake one.
The National Universities Commission should wake and look into this by giving the universities in Cotonou of Benin Republic a full accreditation, it will be good if it will tell Nigerians the fully accredited institutions in Benin Republic to avoid being admitted for a fake degree.
Some Nigerians like me will continue to doubt the educational standard of Benin Republic looking at the quacks it produced as graduates. This is doing damage to Nigerian Education.
Billahil Azim, I know of a guy who bagged this degree in months, I can’t specify the exact months he took but he is now a corps member, I think in either Jigawa or Taraba, he told me that he did his camp in Taraba seeking for relocation to Jigawa. I’m not sure of whether he got relocation.
This guy studied Public Administration as he said, but cannot write a simple sentence, he doesn’t even understand English well. I don’t know how he was awarded a degree in Public Administration?
One of my lecturers recently lamented this problem to me, he expressed to me how worried he is. Many Students that cannot cope with Nigerian Universities for their academic weaknesses rush over to Cotonou or their affiliated institutions here in Nigeria to bag a degree with their poor transcripts.
And we continue to mobilize them for NYSC, are we serious in Education?
Now, for many years this thing is happening but the government failed to act or any of its agency responsible.
This guy that I’m talking about is very connected to politicians, I doubt if he will have a long stay in the ‘Nigerian Labour Market’. Don’t be surprised to see him working in a juicy ministry or Parastatal leaving the competent graduates suffering in the Labour Market.
Some have described this Cotonou Degree by Nigerians as failure of the government to make education more accessible, I agree with them.
Our universities cannot accommodate as many students as possible, some will write and pass JAMB, pass Post UTME but would be denied admission for obvious reason like the number of applicants is too high, the University can only accommodate a certain number. A student would later be asked to exercise patience and write another JAMB again. This would frustrate him in search of a degree in Cotonou or everywhere, whether it is a fake one or not, what he is after is a ‘Degree’.
My fear is for one day seeing Nigerians rushing to Chad for a degree despite the blessings God has bestowed on us, the failure of our leaders to utilize this blessing is what is causing all this mess.
Government must take up to its responsibility of making Education more accessible, the lecturers should also be giving students a soft treatment as in developing countries, they shouldn’t be making things hard.
Reacting this issue: Dr. Ibraheem Dooba, said: “We will continue to lament, but we can’t stop it. It’s Benin today, it will be another country tomorrow. The world is now one huge market, therefore our universities must compete.
The attitude of beating our chest and saying we are better because we’re harder has run its course. I maintain that if we don’t wake up and make education accessible to all, the world would leave us behind.”
We will be employing people with fake degrees while keeping the competent aside. To avoid this, government should invest more on education.
Tudunwada, writes via thecable.ng

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