From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the Federal Government not to yield to pressure by acceding to calls of some Nigerians to lift the suspension order placed on certificates obtained by Nigerian students from tertiary institutions in Togo and the Republic of Benin.
The students body urged the FG to remain firm in its decision, which according to it, remains the best moves to forestall fall in standards in the education sector of Nigeria.
NANS made this call in a statement yesterday by the National Senate Clerk of the students body, Abdul-Yekinn Odunayo, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Odunayo, who bemoaned calls by some Nigerians that the suspension placed by the FG on certificates obtained from institutions in both West African countries, argued that reversing the suspension order as a result of such calls could spell doom for the country.
He noted that Nigeria as the giant of Africa and a leading light in education in the continent, it must not allow substandard certificates from mushrooms varsities to be tendered and accepted in Nigeria.
NANS added that though it is unfortunate that unsuspecting Nigerian students spent fortune to obtain the certificates, standards could not be jeopardized, especially in the area of education.
The students’ body urged the FG to continue to sanitize the education sector in the country, particularly, the tertiary institutions to ensure delivery of quality and fully baked graduates.
While expressing NANS’ support for the FG’s suspension of the certificates from Togo and the Republic of Benin, Odunayo charged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to made adequate fund and infrastructure available in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
This, Odunayo posited, will curb the exodus of the Nigerian students from obtaining certificates from mushroom varsities and polytechnics in the French-speaking West African countries.