The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Benin Republic, has called for leniency over the ban on validation of degree certificates from the country and Togo.

According to the association, 15,000 Nigerian students are currently studying in Benin.

Thelagostimes recalls that a reporter with a Nigerian news platform, in a recent report, detailed how he bagged a degree in under two months from a university in the Benin Republic and even enrolled in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the second time.

Following this development, the Federal Government placed a ban on the validation of degree certificates from the countries.

However, on Thursday, the NANS president of Benin Republic, Ugochukwu Favour, appealed with the government to consider legitimately admitted students.

“For now, I will say that the Federal Government should look into the issue. Now, you can’t because it is happening in this school, punish everyone because it involved close to 15,000 students in the Benin Republic,” he said on Channels Television’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily. 

According to him, the government should step up efforts to probe the matter and punish those involved in the saga.

He added that the NANS in the Benin Republic has constituted a committee to probe the matter, expressing confidence that the report of its findings will be vital in curbing future occurrences.

“I have really not validated if it has been happening for a long time. This is just like what just came out on social media and we are still trying to find out how long it has been happening,” the NANS president said. “So, that is why I set up a committee as the president to investigate it.”