 We're glad to know you're still there. It's still the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Right now we're looking at the real cost of Bene Republic and Togo University Certificate's ban. The thing is that everybody's talking about this and it seems as if there's going to be or there is some sort of stigma attached to this so whoever's schooled in Bene or Togo or any other country that's been affected is now being looked at as like you know is your certificate good or is it bad? Is your certificate authentic or is it not? And so all these are constituting what may not be very good for some people who are genuinely alumni or still students in these countries. But let us hear first hand from people who have or someone who has studied in one of these countries. We're talking to our guest this morning who is Comrade Ollada-Port-Marcos Orekelewa National Organizing Secretary ISFOP University Alumni. Good morning and welcome to the program. Good morning. Thank you for having me. ISOP sounds like one. ISFOP. FOP. Yeah. So yeah it stands for Institute Superior Deformation Professional and in English it's translated as Institute of Professional Studies. Do you speak French? Yes. I speak a little bit of French. I understand a little bit of French. But you studied in a country that speaks French. Yes. Where is this? The Republic? Yes. The Republic. Okay. Tell us what it is like you know now is that see when you go to Bennett to get an education it is not an education. I'm sure there are people who understand that there are others that really had an education but we need to get it across. How is it like studying in those in that country? You see the studying in Bennett Republic it gives let me say it gives youth, it gives students, it gives applicants, those who are aspiring to understand that studying outside of Nigeria has its own benefits, cultural benefits, social benefits and a lot of benefits. Being an alumni of a school in Bennett Republic has exposed my mindset and understanding that education is not just about read and writing, it's about understanding, it's about learning, it's about skills, it's about culture, it's diverse. But you could have heard that in Nigeria and then NYSE to you know that that's fine. You see one thing that many people don't understand is that I used to think studying outside Nigeria is stressful and is expensive until when I met a friend of mine in 2013 and we spoke about schools in Ghana, schools in Bennett Republic and what have you. So one thing about the vast understanding about learning and understanding the cultural benefit of studying outside of Nigeria especially which is Bennett Republic which is a case study we are talking about today is that there is this misconception and there is this misunderstanding that people are putting out there that studying in Bennett Republic is as a result of not having a quality degree certificate or PhD or any form of qualifications that they are about. I'm a product of a school in Bennett Republic which is ISFOP and I must tell you that at least those that we graduated together it is clear to our eyes because once you are in a school and you know all these kind of things are going on and probably you are hearing stuff like this especially when I come back to Nigeria and people are be like are you sure that country which you are studying the degree is accredited it is accredited. I must say that there are lots of private investors in Bennett Republic but it depends on which one you are going to so if you are going to a particular private university you have to make your research that shows that you are wise as a student as an applicant who is aspiring for education outside of your country you cannot just go to a country whereby you don't understand your cultural values you don't understand your traveling policies you don't even understand your curricula. Take for example when I went to study I wanted to study economics but I have always loved to be a sociologist right from my secondary school days so but when I was trying to search and to check on the internet to solve to look for which is the best school for me to attend in Bennett Republic then I stumbled upon ISFOP Bennett University and I found out that okay this is a vocational professional institution which I can learn and be a sociologist and they will teach me in English and at that but that virtue I was able to to like okay I went for it and this has a result because of the fact that I have seen a product of that same school who is doing exploits yes who is doing exploits speaking about cultural value I think when I was planning my first visit to Bennett Republic I don't know how it feels like to be outside of Nigeria I actually thought I'm going to book a flight you know stuff like that but until when I got a very very very detailed explanation I first of all got in contact with their customer care line which is on their website and you know spoke to me and told me that in order to gain admission you know you you can come in with your wire and stuff like that and many Nigerians many youth you don't need jam no you don't need all those stuff because I think once it is not hard we always feel like it is it is too easy we feel like writing the quality is not good exactly the quality is not good but I must tell you that passing wire is much more difficult than passing jam it is very very it is very very clear passing wire is much more difficult than passing jam so you are kind of person that you made your c-scredit in your work and you're going through jam you're going through post jam I can recollect my first jam I had I think 222 and the course which I wanted to study requires 250 it has it has to take me a month that 365 days a year to apply for that same jam and when I did that first year second year I felt like no this is actually wasting my time I have other things to catch up with and once you are this kind of person that you you have goals you you need to achieve some things in life you have to look for other ways and I must tell you that studying Benna Republic is not cheap is not cheap mentally is not cheap financially because you you have to do a lot of research you have to be sure and that is the kind of research I'm talking about is it shows that you you are foresee the future because you know definitely Nigeria is a giant of Africa so even if you are coming from any part of the world to come to Nigeria back in the days 10 15 20 years ago we have whites who are coming to Nigeria to study in likes of unilag unibend and even ui but now I don't think we have more of that again we now have Nigerians going outside more and which way we can see the jacquard syndrome and let's not be like we are evangelists of jacquard now that we're calling on people to go to Benna Republic and all that but you know I needed to know what it is like you know studying in that country one of the questions I was going to ask you was how do you surmount the the challenges of language and culture but you've mentioned those things perhaps that is something that Nigeria should borrow because they can drive traffic to their country even though they are not anglophone so we are we speak English and we don't have French students coming to our country though maybe this is what we should explore but now that this thing has come out I'm just trying to get into your mind as an alumni of a school in Benna Republic how has it affected you as a person and others that you might know that came from the same background let me say that speaking on the saga which is going on especially the suspension that is Excellency President Bola Metinubu just slams on Togo and Benna Republic school I must say that even when I heard the news I thought it was a little more because I knew I think I first had something like this in 2020 that was I think pre-COVID era and a lot has been going on in the background see the in a kind of setting in the educational system whereby we can't really say that Nigeria is doing 100% good in the education sector we can't say that but in as much we we want to sensitize the system in as much we want to make sure that the Nigeria is top notch in terms of global recognition in educational sector we should also be careful in not affecting a lot of people generalizing a particular thing and making it affect those that are out of the game why I'm saying this is because when I heard the news first I think it came to me as a shock I thought it was a rumor and it's keep on going and I found out okay I'm I'm a news inclined person so I watch news almost every day on different channels so I found out okay this is true so a lot of things have been going on the the associations of of management in Ben Republic and the student association the alumni is everybody we're reaching out to themselves and what is this what is really going on and once something like this happened it begins to go from bodies to bodies to bodies the DSS is involved the national youth service core is involved NUC national national university commission is involved and many other bodies are involved and I like the sensitization I must be frank I cannot say Nigeria should be a dumping ground of of illegalities of dollars or people who are not capable of of holding a particular position or going to get a degree within six weeks and four months in fact I was laughing when I saw that and I was like how possible is that even your registration time it takes you more than more than at least if you're fast it takes you like two three months your registration and there is a particular time you can make some fees and one thing about Ben Esco is that these thinners actually it's the the kind of system of their education is driving most of Nigerians to that country because we know that your three years is going to be your three years your two years cost study of direct entry as a direct entry it's going to be two years I'm not saying all courses in Ben Republic are three years some are four years like some engineering courses and some medical courses are four years but your three years is going to be three years you've been in a country whereby you're trying to study trying to get a goal I was speaking about goal earlier and you've been affected by strike upon strike upon strike and you're spending money some people who come back to school and it is like they're forgotten what they studied in the previous semester so it's kind of traumatizing so when the generalization came up I feel like this investigation to me should have been done first because I think I heard in the news yesterday that the president has inaugurated a committee which would look at this this whole thing and I felt like yeah that's a good move I will I think like that committee should have been set up should have done all this rudiment of background checks and accreditations and all that stuff before the suspension the reason is because the suspension is is too sudden is too direct there's a bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Ben Republic that definitely we know that Ben Republic depends on Nigeria in some aspects in terms of in terms of workforce in terms of even this education and I must tell you that Ben Republic is not only a beneficiary Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people so definitely we have how many youths people who are aspiring to get and mind you Ben Republic is not is not a country whereby you are being limited by your age to study is drawn like almost like the National Open University of Nigeria so you can join at any given semester at any time in as much you at steadfast in as much you know what you came in for and you you are able to to achieve it I must tell you a three-year program might not even take more than two years and some months in as much you are steadfast and you know what you are doing in the school so there are many of us who are alumni of Ben Republic who went through the four walls of school who study Ubonna candles is a country with 24 hours electricity but yet we make sure that we know where we are coming from and where we are going to we are not stopping at Benic most of us are schooled in Benic came back to Nigeria did our masters I'm a living example did your masters and some has even traveled abroad so my problem is just in quotes the generalization saying that the Benin school togo school I don't know anything about it we have not been there before actually but Benin Republic as a case study I must tell you that even if there are illegal it is going on it is paramount and it is of necessity that the government should take his measures there's no problem about that but generalizing a particular thing I can give I can give instances of something as as compared to what is going on now which has happened to Nigerian investment I don't like to call names because it looked like as if I am I am trying to bring down students but did you have any wind of this kind of thing ever happening in Benin while you were there no no so this took you as a surprise it took me as a surprise it took me as a shock it is not to me I felt like it's not something that we should be welcoming new year with this this committee which he has set up to do the old check-ins and everything should should be the first thing it should do to me I feel like no I don't understand that you just slamming the suspension by a journalist who did a findings on the 28th of December if I could remember and the suspension is given on the on the 2nd of January 2024 within how many days no there should be there should be um a background check there should be okay checking out is is the case study of making sure to know that okay what these journalists have said or what this guy has said as concerning Benin universities or Togo universities at large is it true is he sure there are hundreds of people involved yes exactly what the people involved a stone to one should shouldn't be like as if you're stoning the all private universities in Benin and I must tell you that it is it is it is it is so disheartening because it has caused a case of pandemonium all over the alumnus and the associations and group of Nigerian graduates who graduated from Benin Republic who are presently in Nigeria and they have like what's all this like why is it going why is it supposed to be like this if the country were to be better educational wise we wouldn't disturb ourselves to go to Benin Republic I must tell you because that is just the fact you do your YAC you do your jam you do your post jam repeatedly two three four five years and you see that you can gain admission in a school whereby with your YAC and you will get a very good degree your comeback which is accredited by NUC and other bodies in Nigeria why not you take the shot but you did say that um man you this is not encouraging you to run away from Nigeria but you did say that it's not cheap to uh school in Benin Republic for instance so uh it's it's easier to school in Nigeria apart from this today apart from the the strikes and all that you know in my the school you went to was a private it was a private so compare that to Nigerian schools no no comparing it to Nigeria you see one thing about Nigerian private university is that it is the charge the uh should I say they are applicants or they are student based on what they consume because definitely it is run by the school it is financed by the school so it is it can be very expensive but I must tell you that only those that don't know that even the accommodation in Benin Republic alone is is more than some school fees in Nigeria the accommodation so I was laughing when they say somebody get a degree for I think I say 50,000 or 100,000 there are rumors everywhere we need to understand the media I understand the media to a large extent and I know that it is not everything that is said on the media that is actually true except you make your finding yeah but he got a certificate and he got accepted into NYSE and all those those are the things that the NYSE system should be questioned because a guy who served in 2018 came back and served in 2022 what is wrong with the NYSE database what happened to the authentication so we all thought that since we serve so those that serve in maybe 10 years ago can equally say that okay I think I like the polo now I can go back to the NYSE company I will serve so even if we are checking they are always is higher now so I don't really understand that if you if you serve before you're serving again then the system should be questioned as well we are only looking at the the we are only looking at Benin Republic Benin Republic no okay now now we know we know that there are people who genuinely went to school in Benin Republic they have a certificate they studied hard and all that we know that we know that but the fact that this happened and they checked the database and everything it checked out it means that there are some people also who could want to have an education genuinely yes in Benin Republic and they end up being scammed maybe by our own Nigerian brothers because whoever did that must have links with Nigeria as well so maybe by our own Nigerian brothers so what is the proper way to go in case you want to go to Benin Republic or Togo if you don't know anything about Togo but let's use Benin Republic in case you want to go to school in Benin Republic yes what channels are you likely to pass through so that we get to know that this is the right channel you don't get scammed you're not getting a certificate that is just a forgery of some sort I think this is a very great point which you've raised here and for the viewers who are watching I think it is very important that there is no organization established that does not have number one in websites their media should be up to date so even those that lives Nigerian study in the likes of UK and Canada they did their research online and they made contact with the school emails calls so if you want to go and study in a school and somebody is claiming to be an agent in your own country and you've not even seen the school you've not even met a staff of the school you've not even met somebody who graduated from the school like myself I've met somebody who graduated from the school who is using a certificate who have served who is articulately sound not just about the container now we talk about the content if I speak to you in five minutes I know that okay truly you went to school so that is what I did and after that I went myself to Ben Republic Ben Republic you don't have to take flights it does pass through but I agree you and Ben Republic is is stone through from Lagos here so you go there you go to the school the location itself you observe it yourself you look at when they started and where they are heading to and where they have my school was established in 1999 so you look at all these things you meet you go to the admission I'm sure all schools have the admission board you go there you know you you understand the admission process and if you're far maybe staying in the far north or in the east or something why not all these schools have websites in fact if you go to google now and just type it school accredited by NUC or that is accredited by Nigerian government in Ben Republic and click search is going to bring a list of them and once you're clicking on any of them it's going to be directing you to your website so I think with that you shouldn't be able to fall victim of I think it's because of the fact that some people are just selfish and don't want to that they don't want to acquire education in the proper way that is why I said that what is excellency president Bola Metinubu is doing is is is good is good is very very good sensitizing the educational sector of Nigeria is good but in that same vein there are a lot of people who want to take through the short cut of life to acquire what somebody did with with with sweats so that is why I recommended that and I applaud what the president is doing but in that same vein some people we just hear that school you can acquire this you know you don't even need to come okay maybe probably this thing you can they do that even in passport office they do that in anywhere any organization that is when you yourself you are not you you don't know what you are looking for you that you can easily be scammed and because of the fact that you you you in Yoruba language we call it Ujuku Kuru because of the fact that you you just want to attain something that it is not rightfully meant for you just by cutting corners and because it is cheap and that is why you see all this on us all on that road is all these people will tell you that bring a one million to me because I know that you said I still expensive so they will call a very cheap amount of money you are acquiring a degree and somebody is saying that you should come and buy a degree what happened to the skill what happened if you if you are employed with that with that cost what will you do what will you do you get a degree come back and do politics because you don't really need a degree in politics the way I see it in Nigeria today but you know my fear was that after this pronouncement maybe in your workplace for instance somebody is saying I heard you from Ben and Republic you got your certificate there let's let's scrutinize you more and all that but has it affected you like that it is welcome I'm all those kind of things does not I know of those that who I know that no if a challenge like that come or if a scrutiny like that comes up at any given time if they are tappered if you wake them up they are ready it is there is no problem in scrutinizing and I must tell you sir that even before we acquire our NYC certificate we wrote exams at the NYC headquarters in Jabinabuja we wrote exams like they will ask you questions about your school where it is located what you learned about yourself what was your the travel processes thoughts like that they ask questions and those who were not able to convince them they didn't get their certificates yes exams yeah well sometimes I ask myself what really is in a paper called certificate because we've seen we've seen people that don't have certificates so I drop out some you know never went to school we hear there was a story in one of the African countries where someone who didn't graduate from a law school was posing as a lawyer for whether 12 years or more and he never lost one case of all the cases that he had he never lost one it reminds me of a movie that I watched the other time catch me if you can you know he had to learn everything within a space of weeks and then he got the knowledge that he needed to do whatever or you're talking about suits a movie as well the person who was a professional did not have the knowledge as much as a person who did not even go to the lens that the other people went to but this is all we're talking about then a republic has been blacklisted as it is you are recommending that the investigation by the committee should have been done earlier before slamming whatever penalty it was on the on the on the schools and all that but what else would you recommend that be done to make sure that people like you don't have a bad name that other people that caught corners might have that is where the committee should the committee have their duty and I think I read through the article this morning even before I came to the studio that in order to be able to cope this and not to generalize the fact that a person is sabotaging the effort of students of alumni of graduates who went to better republic who did all rigorous activities to obtain their degree I think it is very important that after which this scrutiny has been done by all the private investors in better republic they should also make sure that they sensitize this country as well they should make sure that the educational sector of Nigeria is also better better off and should look into the likes of writing for three exams before gaining admission in my secondary school days I remember a guy who we studied together we we did all a it was in I think it was in commercial class I was in art class then and he was a Ghanaian he was just around I think his mom was married to a Nigerian and long story short he traveled back to his country while I was debattling with jams and push jams he was already in his second year so in as much we want to sensitize the quality of the degree and those who are working in the Nigerian sector which I don't know if the jobs is even available but let's just be positive we should also make sure that Nigeria educational sector is scrutinized well there should no be favoritism because favoritism is one of the biggest problem we face in Nigeria I'll give you an example you are supposed to be admitted to a school who needs you to score 60 in the opposed jam you score 59 you were not given admission and somebody who scores 45 was given admission why why is that so all these are big problems I can go on and on and on and on just like you rightly said it is not about the container it is about the content I can see many people are just glamoring on okay this is because the Republic is at the backyard of Lagos if this kind of thing happened in schools like maybe Canada or UK are we trying to say that people don't buy certificates in those countries are we trying to see that in Nigerians they don't buy certificates I'm not saying buying certificates is a good thing in fact it should it should be penalized it should that it should have a very a very big thing the penalty yes thank you penalty to that but I'm just saying that if in as much we are looking at one angle we should make sure we cut across every angle if we're sensitizing those who are coming from Penang Republic to Nigeria we should also sensitize our own country and make sure that our educational sector is good and the likes of wayek jam push jam I'm not saying it's bad to write those three exams but I must tell you that writing exams is not it is not a yardstick to show that a person is brilliant I must tell you it is when you're left for you jam will be scrapped I'm not saying jam to be scrapped is a whole body so I'm not going to let that come out of my mouth but at the same time at the same time you're just thinking I'm just I'm just saying yeah if I'm if I'm putting a position whereby I can make some adjustments as regards the educational system of Nigeria in the area of gaining admission and other stuff I will I will I will take wayek very very very serious and any other exam because people joke with wayek and take their push jam and jam serious I'm telling you your jam and push jam will end in the university you you are studying as far as Nigeria is concerned but wayek will take you west Africa that is why it is called the West Africa Examination Council so you can use wayek even to gain admission abroad in Europe I see a problem why do we have jam when we still have the internal exams that the schools give you and all that I don't know why that came up but fortunately it's generating a lot of money for Nigeria it's all about the money it's all about the money so sometimes you just look at it and say could it be the reason they are doing this and all that but has it had any psychological effect on you or anybody that you know that studied in Bene this slamming of a band on the Antogo yes especially especially those who recently graduated for those of us who has graduated for a very long time we we we are confident we know where we left you know the fact that you left a place and you've you've not been there for many years doesn't mean that the same way you live it's how it is so those that are much more affected are those that recently graduated because they feel like they are about going into the faithful market I won't call it the labor market and this kind of thing is how they after spending a lot of time they study their books and they will land in their own country and their certificate will not be recognized whereas why they study from their 100 to 200 to 300 level their school was recognized so what do they do is traumatizing how about the parents that spends a whole lot of money millions on their child to go and study in Bene so when they come back and they say that your school is not going to work with you didn't you make your research before didn't you check where so no one knows tomorrow you can predict the future but inasmuch you went to a school why you were there it was accredited why you studied it was good and this kind of this kind of news is all over the place I must tell you there was one thing Nigeria knows how to do best is carrying rumors that is what we know how to do best and once the rumors is everywhere you begin to see organization be checking out they will not have they will not be concerned more on your person they will not be concerned about what you have upstairs they'll be concerned about the paper which you are holding they say that okay can I see you as you want to see institute that this is a friend of the republic or can you step aside and you see that can be traumatizing because it can cause a lot of people to do it you know I think you understand best where I'm going to so it is very very in it is very very important that they take a look at when you want to make an announcement you should not you should not do it too sudden there should be a background check like it has to it has to gradually comes upon you when you want to give your statement you know I say okay following our rigorous checks and all this we find out that this and this and this not you heading in the in for this time and there is a suspension on the old country it's kind of traumatizing and I've heard a lot of people who sent me a message in fact immediately the news broke out as the national organizing secretary of my school I got a lot of message I get messages in a day at least an average of 20 from people who just graduated with graduated together who you know what do we think about this thing what was the president doing we don't understand this thing is going to it's going to cost us our jobs people will be looking at us then I say see it's all about you if you are relevant to your place of work if you are relevant to your job they know you I must tell you that even if they will scrutinize you they will say no this person has been with us for five six six ten years and we don't see any reason why we should take his paper important than his person yeah but when when when you have you are unfortunate that village people followed you followed you to your workplace they can use that against you I quite I quite agree with the trauma you're talking about yeah the fact that a lot of people might get affected because of that pronouncement we've been seeing it on this show all the time that when public officials want to say something they should scrutinize it and see the effect it will have it's just like fuel subsidy gone till today we are still suffering that last sentence and all that so we've seen these things happen time and time again but we are here where we are now there's there's no taking back the words that have been spoken already I'd like you now to talk to your alumni to talk to your fellow students that may have studied in Bennett or are still studying or just graduated from Bennett Republic just address them and give some words of encouragement as we wrap up okay um my encouragement will be that just be who you are you you know what you are made of you you've acquired your degree in a very in a very simple and a very very good manner so don't be downcast don't feel don't feel don't feel bad make sure we are going to stand throughout these tough times and we'll make sure that by God's grace we will come out of this and those who are trying to sabotage the universities in Bennett the corporate those who are trying to to sell certificates will be heard responsible for their for their sins and not the general public so I urge every um graduate of any Benin universities if you are still studying Mr. Fass continue to study and with God by your side you come out victorious yeah I use this time to urge you the alumni people who know their onions and know what they pass through to get what they got to also do your own findings find out this syndicate that because it's a syndicate that shows find out this syndicate help in the investigation that the government is doing right now so that these people will be fished out named and shamed because that also will vindicate you and everybody who is studying or who has studied in Benin Republic would like to thank you comrade for coming on the show this morning it was really good having to talk with you and thank you for keeping the time I remember when you got to the studio well ladies and gentlemen we've been talking with comrade or ladak for macos or a national organizing secretary um isphab university alumni he was talking to us here about the real cost of Benin Republic and togo university certificates banned the implication on the people the implication on the economy the implication on everybody and one of the recommendations was find out what really happened and what really happens before you slam a ban on an entire country or two countries at the same time without before you because if you slam that ban on everybody and everything it means that a lot of things might go wrong so find out the real thing be sure of your investigation before you take the necessary steps to punish whoever is the culprit we do hope that this kind of a thing will not linger for too long and we do hope that it will not spoil the relationship between Nigeria and Benin and togo as countries as well they are all west african countries and we should continue to be brothers as it is thank you so much for coming okay this is where we wrap it up on the show this morning it's been a pleasure being with you and we hope that we will return tomorrow for the breakfast again on thursday my name is Nyam Gul Aghaji have a wonderful day