Revealed: How Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in six weeks, participated in Nigeria’s NYSC programme

Cotonou is not only famous for the thriving second-hand car business popularly called ‘tokunbo’; it also serves as a good place to go for those in need of express degrees.

The story of obtaining questionable degree certificates from universities in Benin Republic and Togo is not new. What is new, however, is how these certificates can now be obtained with ease.

The requirements are O-level certificates – fake or genuine – and the amount to pay, which varies, depending on the course, urgency and class of degree.

In less than a month or two, one can be a ‘graduate’ from any of the mushroom universities dotted across the two West African countries.

The beneficiaries of these substandard certificates, who are either unintelligent or lazy, compete for jobs and other opportunities with hard-working graduates who undergo academic rigours for at least four years to obtain their degrees.

To get first-hand information on how these certificate racketeers operate, a DAILY NIGERIAN reporter, Umar Audu, went undercover and investigated the booming business.

Obtaining a Cotonou degree

In December 2022, the reporter reached out to a racketeering syndicate that specialises in selling the infamous degree certificates from the neighbouring countries to willing buyers at an ‘affordable rate’.

The agent however told our reporter the option of “studying” for a year or month, but he opted for the month option.

“That’s not a problem; we can help. If the money is ready, we can help you out. We have done it for a lot of people. If you make the payment now, the results will be ready next month,” he said.

The reporter’s choice of mass communication from any “university” in Cotonou was premised on the fact he could easily scale through the screening as he had knowledge of the course.

The agent gave the reporter the breakdown of the amount to pay, which included tuition fees, an evaluation letter, a resident permit, immigration stamps at the border post and transportation.

On December 27, 2022, our reporter made the payment and was issued a payment receipt.

True to the agent’s words, the certificate and transcript of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Cotonou, Benin Republic, were delivered to his office on February 17, 2023.

The transcript indicated that this reporter commenced the institution in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022.

Unfortunately, there was a slight mistake on the transcript, so it had to be transported back to Cotonou for correction, and one month later, the corrected version was received on March 29.

Prior to that, this reporter was never issued an admission letter or knew about the school the agent was processing for him.

All the agent said was, “don’t worry, everything will be sorted out.”

Like miracle, the reporter “finished” the four-year degree programme in less than two months without application, registration, studying, writing exams or crossing Nigerian border.

But despite having the certificate and transcript in his possession, the reporter had fears they could be fake, until he discovered a scan code placed on the left bottom of the transcript. And when the reporter scanned through, it directed him to the website of ESGT University, indicating that he is a genuine product of the institution.

On its website, ESGT, established in 2009, said, “It is an institution built upon a vision that enables individuals from a mix of different nationalities and cultures to get the best in undergraduate and postgraduate international education.”.

The institution is fully accredited by both the governments of the Benin Republic and Nigeria. It offers over 30 courses in management sciences, social sciences, applied and natural sciences as well as technology.

It was gathered that the racketeering agents in Nigeria work hand-in-hand with the top management of the university campus in Cotonou, whose registrar and English section coordinator are Nigerians.

“The evaluation letter doesn’t come from us. It comes from the Ministry of Education. They are the ones causing the delay; they want more bribes, but we are still negotiating with them. But please be a little bit patient with us; it’s a general problem,” he said in response our reporter’s complaint over evaluation delay.

After payment of additional money through the agent, the evaluation letter was eventually released. The letter is a mandatory requirement for NYSC mobilisation.

In separate letters dated May 25 and 26, addressed to the director general of the National Youth Service Scheme, NYSC, the Federal Ministry of Education confirmed that the ESGT is on the ministry’s list of accredited institutions.

The letter, which was signed on behalf of the minister by the deputy director of Evaluation and Accreditation, Koli Salihu-Mongodiba, also cleared 51 ESGT graduates to participate in the NYSC, “having met all the requirements set by the ministry”.

“The institution is on the ministry’s list of accredited institutions in Benin, and the bachelor degrees awarded to the students as indicated on the attached list are equivalent to bachelor degrees awarded by any Nigerian university in a similar field of study,” the letter read in part.

Agents of these mushroom universities are said to connive with some corrupt officials at the Federal Ministry of Education to get evaluation letters for a fee ranging from N40,000 to N70,000 per “graduate”.

Double NYSC participation

When the NYSC opened its portal for 2023 Batch B registration in June, this reporter was afraid that the system would reject him outright as he had genuinely participated in the scheme in the past.

But soon after he began the screening, his fears was allayed as the NYSC seemingly lacked the digital tool to flag attempts to participate in the scheme twice or more.

The only initial obstacle he had was when he input the email and phone number he used during his genuine NYSC registration, a message popped up saying, “This email and phone number have already been registered.” Our reporter then immediately switched to his alternative phone number and email.

He therefore created a new profile, uploaded all the required documents, including fingerprints.

The next stage was physical verification of documents. Usually, there are two stages of verification — physical and online evaluation.

On July 3, while registration was going on smoothly for students who obtained certificates from less questionable foreign institutions, those from Benin Republic and Togo were subjected to a more thorough screening exercise.

At that stage, NYSC officials rejected our reporter’s evidence of Cotonou residency, but after months of back-and-forth, he was eventually linked with an immigration official who facilitated the stamping of his passport to show evidence of multiple entry and exit from Seme Border between 2018 and 2022.

Although the reporter never crossed any Nigerian borders, the officer was able to get his passport stamped by both Nigerian and Beninois immigration agents.

After the tedious process, the reporter was eventually cleared for both physical and online evaluations, and on November 22, posted to Cross Rivers for one year service.

My experience at Obubra

I arrived at the orientation camp in Obubra, a predominantly rice farming community, at exactly 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, 26, 2023, for the 21-day orientation course.

On the posting letter every prospective Corp member was expected to arrive the camp  from Friday November 24 to Sunday November 26, 2023.

I scheduled my journey for Saturday, and there was no direct flight going to Calabar on that day.

So I had to fly to Enugu, from where I traveled by road for 250 kilometres before arriving at Obubra.

As expected, we were subjected to security checks at the gate by operatives consisting of Nigeria Police, Nigeria Military, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

After successful screening at the gate, we were asked to take a certain direction where we saw some NYSC officials who asked us to write down our names, and immediately gave us room allocation.

The registration spot for foreign graduates is different from that of home-trained graduates.

The female official I met requested I bring out all the documents I used in applying for NYSC, which I obliged. I was subjected to another round of written and oral interviews. I answered all the questions diligently, and I was cleared and given a tag.

The tags contain my state code and the platoon number.

I moved to Platoon 9, where I was deployed. My credentials were documented and I was given a complete NYSC kit.

While accepting the kits with mixed reactions, I reminisced about the experience I went through at NYSC orientation camp in Ede in 2018.

It was a similar process, except that in 2018 I spent four years to study in a Nigerian university before being allowed to participate in the scheme.

I hurriedly dashed to the hostel to change my mufti and put on the approved dress.

Due to the regimented nature of the camp activities, the camp director and state coordinator, at every opportunity, would appeal to corps members with underlying illnesses to apply for exit if they can’t cope with the stress.

I took the advantage of that offer and applied for exit after spending eight days in Obubra Camp.

-Daily Nigerian with minimum editing by NewsTrends