By CHRIS NWOKORO

ACCORDING to Ministere De L’Enseignement Superieur Et De Recherche Scientifique, Republique Du Benin; Guide D’orientation Universitaire 2020-2021, there were about 74 listed private universities in Benin in 2021. By 2024 the media reported that 45 universities operated in Benin and Togo, indicating that some 50 per cent of the universities in Benin may have been shut down within three years.

This should bother us. According to an online publication, there are about 15,000 students of Nigerian origin studying in Benin Republic; even as a national daily reported 10,900 Nigerian students study in Benin and Togo put together. Some of the private universities are owned by Nigerians, while most other English section universities owned by Benin citizens are managed by Nigerians.

Could the above data necessitate the massive attention the Nigerian government and media have shown to the recently alleged certificate racketeering involving a private university in Benin Republic? Virtually all mainstream and social media networks in the country have been reporting news and articles on government suspension of evaluation of degrees awarded by the universities operating in the Republics of Benin and Togo since January 2, 2024. The news is bound to last longer as the public awaits the report of the Government Panel set up to investigate the alleged certificate racketeering in the institutions.

The January 2024 suspension order is not the first the Nigerian government has issued against the university degrees from Benin. A few years ago, the government, through the National University Commission, NUC, blacklisted some Benin, Togo and Cameroon university programmes and their certificates, including Nursing, Medical Laboratory, and Pharmacy from writing the Council Exams and practising. Medicine and Law are no go areas for Nigerian students in Benin.

In February 2023, the Benin National Government suspended not less than 12 private universities for noncompliance to the rules. Two years ago, the same government clamped down on not less than two big private universities; while the biggest and what used to be the most popular, is at the verge of becoming a ghost town.

Some Nigerian universities have also been accused of certificate racketeering and other misconducts observed in Benin and Togo. There was a case of certificate racketeering in Kwara State Polytechnic, leading to the institution’s resolve to print their certificates abroad. More so, the Director of Public Affairs in NYSC, Mr Megwa (then Lagos State Coordinator of NYSC) on Channels TV recalled how some corps members left unceremoniously, following his threat to fish out those that entered the scheme with fake certificates. To add more, earlier in 2006, the then DG of NYSC, Brigsdier Yusuf Momoh investigated a supposed corps member and discovered his name was smuggled in. For decency, the Nigerian press and government did not go agog with any of the sad news rather they allowed the institutions involved to handle the cases. You ask again: why was the case in Benin different?

I’ve paid a close attention to the pity state of these small but growing private universities that ought to have been supporting in meeting the educational needs of the sub-region. A study I carried out in 2021 examined the role of brand visibility on the survival of private universities in Benin and Nigeria documented that majority of the private universities in Benin are like commodity products and can hardly be effectively marketed as the attributes of brands are not felt.

They bear such abbreviated cluster names like ESGT, ESAE, ESCAE, EPS, ESEP, ESPAM, ECOTES, among others. Most of their logos manifest rioting colours, congested images, too many colours that constitute nuisance in the eyes and minds of their target audience. The only available marketing promotion tools in their control – website, and social media – are often left in the hands of toddlers. Considering the fact that they offer almost same courses and degrees, there is hardly any distinction between one university and another. Some operate in low-profile buildings.

The findings further show that Nigeria’s rigid university education policies encourage branding and brand visibility programmes, while Benin policies on private university education discourage long-term investments in the system, including branding. Consequently, while universities in Nigeria command good corporate image to challenge unfavourable government policies, the Benin counterpart lack such image. With easy to recall logo, websites manned by technically skilled ICT persons who upgrade website contents and features regularly, maintain regular social and mainstream media presence, Nigerian private universities thrive; while their Benin counterparts with little concern on branding and media presence suffer humiliation from Benin and Nigerian governments. The study predicted an imminent extinction if the private universities in Benin continue to neglect branding, be positively visible and command respect.

On academic standard, some of the universities are poorly equipped, staffed, and funded to make significant impact. Most of them operate with part-time lecturers, giving the students inadequate access to their lecturers, especially on research activities. The system overworks the few available permanent staff hindering job specialisation. The ongoing Naira depreciation has worsened the situation as rents, foodstuffs, and study materials prices keep skyrocketing as Naira exchange rate to CFA drops. You can estimate the student population in the institutions by sharing 15,000 total student population among the 47 private universities that operate in the two countries –an average of 320 students per university. That tells the financial strength of these universities. It also explains the struggle in university students’ recruitment.

Amidst the odds, some of the institutions are making reasonable efforts to develop their facilities. I once played host to a registrar of a bigger university in Cameroon who visited the broadcast studio we set up, and screamed in awe, stressing that they do not have near that in Cameroon. Of course, there are big Nigerian universities running Mass Communication for years without even an online radio studio. I know of a public university of education in Nigeria that covers less than two months’ studies in a semester. On lecturers’ academic qualifications, the entry requirement in most schools there remains academic Master’s Degree as it is in some Nigerian private universities. Most of these lecturers like their Nigerian counterparts studied in premier universities in Nigeria and abroad. 

Some of the lecturers are either retired technocrats from Nigeria or visiting lecturers from Nigerian universities. When we factor in the serene Benin environment, almost 24-hour daily electricity and water supply, we see why most committed Benin students excel.

The Benin National Government through its Ministry of Higher Education has never relented in making and enforcing policies to harmonise and sanitise the sub-sector. For instance, in addition to the policy of “shutdown any erring” university, university students wear school uniform to class; the Ministry inspects the programmes and does accreditation of courses; French Language studies and certification are made compulsory; even merger has been recommended as a means of upgrading the facilities.

Despite the rigours, unfavorable government policies and the attendant frustrations, Nigerian students are still studying and enrolling in the private universities in Benin. The reasons rotate around absence of alternatives in Nigeria for out of more than two million youths that seek admission into Nigerian universities yearly, only 500,000 – 700,000 gain admission. What happens to between 1.3 – 1.5 million denied admission? While tuition fees in Benin private universities run between N150,000 and N500,000, there may not be any private university in Nigeria charging below N300,000. Some students in Benin wrote JAMB three times and three times were denied admission. They study French Language concurrently with their course of study unlike other French speaking countries where one spends extra six to 12 months studying French. Some fresh students and those on transfer from Northern Nigerian universities settle in private universities in Benin to escape from terrorism and killings ravaging our land. And the proximity of Benin from Lagos is an added advantage.

Even as government suspension order on Benin, Togo based university certificates holds, most Nigerian students have resumed classes in their universities. Their motivation is that since the white collar jobs have never been there for majority of Nigerian graduates, they have little or nothing to lose even if government outrightly outlaws their degrees. Some of them stay back after graduation establishing small businesses. Some other attractions include the three year graduation period for most undergraduate programs in Benin as against four years in Nigeria. The 24 hours daily power and water supply; safe environment, among others, attract Nigerian youths to study in Benin.

However good the above sounds, there is much to bother them concerning government recognition of their programs and their certifications. Nigerian Government actions may have contributed to the blacklisting of graduates of private universities in Benin from obtaining admission into postgraduate studies in the UK. Some of the Benin harsh policies on the private universities are influenced by Nigerian government. Where this leads these growing small universities in West Africa should not only bother parents and students, but also the owners of these institutions and their managers.

And should the Nigerian government ignore the warnings of a premier first class traditional ruler that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder, and push more 15,000 kegs of gunpowder to the existing kegs? Adams Oshiomhole once disclosed that he mobilized idle Edo youths as the Governor to dig the ground and fill it up daily and be paid salary monthly to stem crisis in the State. Undoubtedly Edo has remained peaceful since then.

I have heard people argue that the government’s suspension order will reduce capital flight among other benefits. The truth is that most of the payments to the universities in question are made in Naira into the Nigerian marketers’ bank accounts; spent on paying staff salaries who are mostly Nigerians in those English section institutions. Most of these workers have their families in Nigeria and either work from Nigeria or return to Nigeria every weekend. Much of the money remain in Nigeria not Benin.

The massive awareness created by the certificate scandal could be turned into a huge opportunities if the owners of the universities can come together, brand their programs, and speak in one voice. History has endless records of odd news being turned into huge opportunities. One of this is the 1920 radio noise that brought the broadcast frequency allocation to the world. The university owners and managers should engage marketing communications experts even on consultancy arrangement to help position their schools and command desired patronage and respect.

Instead of ostracizing graduates of Benin, Togo universities, I urge the Nigerian Government to collaborate with other ECOWAS countries in regulating and upgrading the standard of university education in the sub region. The smaller countries should be influenced to put up rigid policies in education, as obtained in Nigeria that will motivate university owners to develop the sector. To control misconduct, French Language proficiency or certificate could be tested or requested at the NYSC screening stages. This will also encourage the Nigerian students to pay desired attention to French Language studies which is an added value to their degree.

Implementing the above becomes imperative as a nation struggling to feed its citizens, battling with volatile crime rate, acute unemployment, drastically losing its image in its currency, suffering the highest rate of inflation cannot afford to lead itself into more struggles.

*Dr Nwokoro, a lecturer, wrote from City University Liberia