No fewer than 650 Nigerian students studying at the ESM University, Benin Republic, have made an appeal to President Bola Tinubu, asking for leniency over the ban placed on the institution’s certificate.

The students, on Thursday, appealed to Tinubu for assistance following the derecognition of the university by the Federal Government.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), hundreds of students and parents marched peacefully to express their concerns.

The Federal Government recently said no fewer than 21,600 students are parading fake certificates obtained from degree mill institutions in Benin Republic, Togo, and others.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, disclosed this during a ministerial press briefing on his one-year achievements in the ministry in Abuja last Friday.

According to Mamman, 1,105 students are holding fake certificates from Togo alone.

The FG in March set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers.

This followed an investigative report published by *Daily Nigerian*, which exposed the activities of fake degree mills in Benin Republic.

The Minister said that fake degrees from Nigerian and foreign universities would be flushed out of the system.

“The Federal Government has directed the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to issue a circular to flush out anybody with fake certificates from these institutions.

“In Togo, there are three universities that are officially approved and licensed to offer degree courses, and in Benin Republic, we have five institutions licensed for degree courses,” he said.