NANS requests that the FG penalise Nigerian Institutions that provide unaccredited courses.

The Federal Government (FG) has received praise from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for halting the assessment and accrediting of degree credentials from Togo and the Benin Republic.

NANS further demanded that the government extend its approval to Nigerian universities that provide courses without receiving accreditation from the appropriate authorities.

The Association made the request in a statement released on Tuesday in Abeokuta by Elvis Ekundina, the president of the National Senate.

On Tuesday, the Federal Ministry of Education expressed worry about certain Nigerians using fraudulent means to obtain degrees from Benin Republic and Togo in order to obtain employment prospects for which they were unqualified.

As a result, NANS urged the federal government to launch an inquiry into the operations of the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Federal Ministry of Education, and other organisations implicated in the fraudulent activities.

Although we applaud the Federal government for acting swiftly to revoke the accreditation of degree certificates from Togo and the Benin Republic, we also think it’s critical to look into the actions of pertinent agencies implicated in the fraudulent activities.

We would also like to take this opportunity to urge the government to look into the operations of postsecondary educational institutions, particularly privately operated ones that offer courses without accreditation.

Through their actions, these institutions are destabilising our educational system and defrauding young Nigerians of their money by providing them with courses that lack accreditation.

“These unaccredited course-offering universities and polytechnics are illegal establishments that need to be dealt with appropriately,” Ekundina stated.

In order to reposition the education system, he called on the federal government to work with NANS and other student organisations to eradicate “illegal” postsecondary schools from the nation.