Concern over Nigerian students who get fake degrees in Benin

Concern is rising about the growth of low-quality or even entirely bogus universities and colleges being established in Benin, as students from neighbouring Nigeria look for higher education courses outside their own country.

This demand is being fuelled by a shortage of higher education places in Nigeria, with some unscrupulous Benin-based operators taking advantage of naïve Nigerians in Africa’s most populous country.

According to Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) such rogue administrators are often Nigerians running private universities in Benin.

As a result, the commission has warned students about fake degrees from foreign universities, with particular reference to those from Benin.

Professor Abubakar Rasheed Adamu, the executive secretary of the NUC, has disclosed that the commission has found some fake institutions of higher learning in some African countries who award PhD degrees to Nigerian students in less than one year of the programme.

He also said that the NUC had found institutions where academic projects and theses were on sale for about NGN3,000 (about US$7.32) per copy, adding that the commission is also worried about sexual harassment prevalent in universities.

Adamu spoke about these problems when visiting Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in 2021.

He said at the time that the commission had discovered fake institutions of higher learning in Benin awarding PhD degrees to Nigerian students after they completed bogus studies of less than one year.

“Sometimes they award degrees in six months, while our degrees in Nigeria run for four years and above,” he said.

Unreliable qualifications to be blocked

Many English language universities in Benin are run by Nigerian proprietors who target students from Nigeria, where public universities struggle to accommodate a high number of qualified students seeking admission, said Sarafadeen Adebisi, the national general secretary of the Association of Nigerian University Professional Administrators.

In a move to eliminate certificate racketeering, the NUC, in collaboration with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), which runs compulsory one-year development placements for Nigerian graduates, has said they would block graduates with unreliable qualifications from partaking in the programme.

Employers insist on proof that graduates have taken part to offer jobs to graduates based on their qualifications.

In March, the NYSC delisted eight universities, with five of them from Benin – banning graduates from participating in the orientation programme for the year.

The universities included the École Supérieur Sainte Félicité; the École Supérieur d’Administration et d’Economie; École Supérieur d’Enseignement Professionnel Le Berger; and the École Supérieur St Louis d’Afrique. These were all accused by the NYSC of awarding degrees within a few months after matriculation.

Also, in August 2021, the NUC said the University of Applied Sciences and Management, Porto-Novo, Benin, and the African University for Cooperative Development (AUCD) Cotonou, Benin, were essentially fakes and that students paying for services at these institutions were unlikely to receive higher education of real worth.

This followed a 2019 warning from NYSC director general Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim that Benin universities would probably be added to this warning list.

He told Nigeria’s The Guardian newspaper: “It is unfortunate that some institutions of higher learning, particularly in Cotonou, Benin Republic, present to us people who didn’t go through the four walls of the university as graduates for NYSC mobilisation.”

He added: “We are presently investigating some of such so-called graduates, many of whom cannot write or spell any word in English.”

Such students are unlikely to be given employment by reputable organisations, given their degrees will not have been endorsed by the NYSC.

Nigeria-based branches also closed

The NUC has also been closing the Nigeria-based branches of Benin-headquartered universities and colleges over these quality concerns.

“We don’t have a centre in Nigeria any more,” Ojuromi Olabode, an administrative officer at the Benin-based private university, the University Institute of Benin (Institut Universitaire du Bénin), told University World News: “Every foreign university, mostly Benin Republic institutions in Nigeria, were told to close down in Nigeria.”

Olabode insisted that his university is “accredited and it is legit” with graduates enrolled and accepted for NYSC in Nigeria.

He admits, however, that there has, indeed, been a problem regarding fake universities in Benin.

“Truly, there are hoax and fraudulent institutions based on the high turnover of students who are interested in schooling in Benin Republic; few are legit and more are fraudulent,” he warned.

All these institutions, quality or otherwise, have eased access for Nigerian students by deploying a hybrid blend of online and in-person classes.

“We are 70% online and 30% physical,” said Olabode. “For students who work in Nigeria, we open a platform whereby you can do lectures online and then come to the campus to take some lectures before tests and exams.”

Another problem highlighted by Olabode was that some accredited Benin universities and colleges ran some unaccredited courses and offered places to Nigerian students.

“There is a difference when you accredit a school and there is a difference when you accredit a course,” he explained. “So, students should be mindful of the school they engage in and they should be careful about the course they do in that particular school.”

Nigerian students urged to be cautious

Empress Consult, a higher education consultancy firm based in Benin, echoed this call for caution by Nigerian students.

“There are many universities in the Republic of Benin, and some of them are not accredited to offer certain courses,” it said in a statement sent to University World News. “And certain universities are not accredited or approved to give any courses at all.”

The consultancy said: “Students are ignorantly attending those schools, wasting their time and money before understanding that they are in the wrong place.

“The persistence of such events has adversely affected the credibility of the approved Benin Republic universities. Many citizens have been led to think that not all schools in the Republic of Benin are accredited.”

Benin government officials did not respond to requests from University World News for comment about these concerns.

Problems fuelled by demand

These problems are fuelled by demand. Despite there being nearly 200 private and public universities in Nigeria, qualified students still face overcrowding and struggle to find placements in their institutions of choice, according to comments made in 2021 by Professor Stephen Afolami, the former vice-chancellor of Augustine University, Epe, in Lagos State, Nigeria.

There has also been widespread disruption in academic calendars, and not just because face-to-face academic activities often have been shut down in public universities because of COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, learning and research had often been disrupted due to striking academic staff demanding improved university funding.

These problems and other quality issues have made students seek admissions in mostly private universities in the next-door Benin Republic where study times are known to be more predictable.

Studies are also faster. Depending on the course of study, a typical bachelor degree takes three years to complete in Benin. It takes at least four years in Nigeria, even when there is no disruption to the academic calendar.

This reduces tuition costs in Benin universities, an additional attraction for Nigerian students, along with social, political and economic stability in Benin being more solid than in Nigeria.

Nigerians with experience of studying in Benin are speaking up about the risks, however: “Ask enough questions from any ex-student or a student that still schools over there to avoid falling victims to scammers,” Adesola Ayoade, an accounting graduate from ESAE-Benin University, a private institution based in Cotonou, told University World News.

Her experience was positive. She currently serves on an NYSC programme in Nigeria and described her experience as “a beautiful three years”. She said: “My advice for any prospective student going to Benin is to seek more details.”