The West African Education, Economic and Social Advancement Forum has stated that Nigeria’s education standard is greatly hampered by the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ ongoing industrial action and increasing cases of certificate forgery by politicians.
WAESAF Nigeria District President, Mr. Olatunji Taiwo, said the worrisome and saddening frequent interruptions of academic activities in the universities is cancer in the country’s educational system.
Taiwo, in a statement made available to journalists on Monday, maintained that it was important for stakeholders to rise in unison and addressed the deplorable situation of education in the country.
According to him, between 1999 and 2022, ASUU embarked on no fewer than 16 strikes with a cumulative of 1404 days as at August 29, 2022.
The statement read, “It is our honest opinion that Nigeria, a country renowned for birthing foremost scholars and globally recognised academicians, should be a pace-setter in the development and advancement of education.
“We are therefore joining our voice with that of millions of disenfranchised Nigerian students to call on the government and ASUU to urgently settle their differences to ensure that the universities are reopened within the nearest possible time.” He stated.
Similarly, WAESAF expressed worry over the increasing spate of certificate forgery among Nigerian politicians jostling for various public offices in the 2023 general elections.
“In July, a Federal High Court in Abuja disqualified the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori on the grounds that he “submitted dubious or forged credentials/certificates in order to participate in and declared the winner of the PDP’s governorship primary election.
“Similarly, there is an ongoing case of certificate forgery against the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom, Umo Eno, before the Federal High Court in Uyo. According to reliable reports, Umo Eno was dragged to court by Akan Okon, a contestant in the May 25 PDP governorship primary, over allegations that he (Eno) is parading forged West African Examination Council certificates in his bid to actualise his governorship ambition. From the latest reports on the case, two renowned Professors and forensic experts in the country, Prof Jideoni Charles and Prof Michael Nwokolo jointly carried out the forensic investigation on the said WAEC certificates and confirmed that they were forged.
“As published in many reliable media platforms, the forensic report did not only confirm that Umo Eno’s are forged, but also revealed that Mr Eno created a fake WAEC website to publish his forged WAEC result.”
The group expressed surprise that the examination body has not addressed the issue of the alleged website cloning and certificate forgery involving Umo Eno and other politicians, alleging that this has exposed the image of the council to unnecessary public backlash.
“We are therefore calling on WAEC to address this scandalous issue of forgery as its continuous silence may send a wrong message to students not just in Nigeria but across the West African region who will be writing the examination in the future. We urge the examination body to collaborate with the security agencies to thoroughly investigate these cases and ensure that those found culpable are prosecuted accordingly,” the statement added.