The Students Representative Council President of Ecole Superieure De Geston Et De Technologies University, Cotonou, Benin Republic, Prinz-Ufokimo Ime Idio, has expressed disappointment with the recent suspension of evaluation of degree certificates from his school and others from the country and Togo.
The suspension followed an investigative report by Daily Nigerian journalist, Umar Audu, detailing how he acquired a degree from a university in Benin Republic in less than two months.
Reacting to the development in an exclusive interview with Channels Television, the student leader said the news of the suspension dented their holiday mood.
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“I will say as a student, it is just a bad way to end our year because all of us were enjoying our Christmas holidays only for us to just see an investigation by a reporter about the so called certificate from our school. We did not actually receive it very well as students.
“To me personally I was thinking it was just a way someone wanted to trend on social media but I woke up on the 2nd of January and saw a news of suspension of certificate accreditation in Benin Republic; that was when the whole thing was dawn on me,” he said.
He, however, commended the Federal Government for their efforts to get to the root of the fake certificate saga, saying that he believes the reason for the suspension is just to unravel everything and carry out necessary measures to stop such activities.
Idio said he did not buy his admission into the Benin Republic University, explaining that the school was recommended to him by his friend after several trials writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) without success.
According to him, studying in the Benin Republic university is as rigorous as studying in universities in Nigeria and other countries. He said that any student, who does not meet up with at least 60 percent class attendance, will not be allowed to write exams.
The students’ leader, who believes there is more to the certificate saga that needs to be unraveled by the Federal Government, said that a lot of affected students and their parents are in panic.
He pleaded with the Federal Government to tender justice with mercy because there are still some competent students out there that actually acquired their certificate through a normal academic process without cutting corners.