Approximately 650 Nigerian students at ESM University in Benin Republic have appealed to President Bola Tinubu for assistance following the Federal Government’s derecognition of the university. This action came after it was revealed that over 22,500 graduate certificates from universities in Benin and Togo between 2019 and 2023 were fake.
The Federal Government’s recent ban on Nigerians enrolling in certain universities in Benin and Togo has greatly affected the students, prompting them to stage a peaceful march to the residence of Chibuzor Chinyere, General Overseer of Omega Power Ministry (OPM) in Port Harcourt. The students, who are on OPM scholarships, expressed their distress over the ban and pleaded for Tinubu to reverse the policy to allow them to continue their education.
Hycenth Ikechukwu, a final-year Business Administration student, voiced his frustration at the news of the ban while approaching graduation. He noted that ESM University was accredited by the Nigerian Government at the time of his enrollment in 2019. “We urge President Tinubu to intervene and direct the Education Ministry to reconsider this hasty decision that could ruin our lives,” Ikechukwu said, adding that it would be unfair to force final-year students to start over in Nigerian universities after years of hard work and financial investment.
Moses Joseph, a 200-level Computer Science student, requested that the government facilitate their transfer to universities in Nigeria. “We should be allowed to submit our academic transcripts to continue our education in the country,” he said, expressing willingness to start from 100-level if necessary.
Wisdom Nweze, another student, reported that the de-accreditation of her university had severely impacted her mental health and urged the government to resolve the issue. Justin Hyacinth, a blind widow, lamented that her son’s scholarship to study abroad was jeopardized by the ban and called for immediate government action to reverse it.
Chinyere revealed that the 650 students are part of a larger group of over 4,000 OPM scholarship recipients in various countries. He emphasized that the church had confirmed the university’s accreditation and that its graduates had participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). OPM has invested over ₦500 million in these students, and Chinyere argued that the ban undermines both the church’s investment and the students’ efforts.
He suggested that rather than banning the university, the Federal Government should strengthen regulations governing foreign education and noted that continued implementation of this policy could jeopardize the church’s ability to sustain its scholarship program abroad.