Ghanaian urges Nigerians seeking to study abroad to avoid fake agents

A Ghanaian educationist, Mrs Charlotte Owusu, on Wednesday urged Nigerians seeking admission into institutions in Ghana and other foreign countries to avoid patronising fake agents or representatives.

Owusu spoke in an interview at the second Ghana International Education Fair in Lagos.
The theme of the fair is " World class education with African values''.
She said that many prospective students and parents had been duped by fake agents in the process of seeking admission.

According to her, some students also present fake documents during registration with the agents which had often results into fake admission.
"Some individuals are going around duping people seeking to study abroad, whether in Ghana or elsewhere.

"Schools have reported that some individuals have come to tell them that they recruit students for their schools.
"These individuals collect huge amounts of money from their clients with giving them admission.
"Last year, some parents came to report to us that they had been duped, that some agents came to tell them that they had gained admission into their universities and they paid but did not get any admission.

"People should stop patronising individual agents, they should go through the school or certified representatives of the school,'' she said.
Owusu, also the director of the fair, said that it was organised to avail parents, guardians and prospective students the opportunity to interact directly with representatives of Ghanaian institutions.

She said that 10 institutions were participating in the five-day fair and intending students would have the opportunity to rub minds with genuine representatives.
"The students coming into our universities are so many and some of them use all kinds of means to come in, some come with fake documents.

"This platform is put in place to help eradicate all the bad nuts from the system and save the name of both countries. We are here to recruit students officially.
"We have five public universities and five private universities as exhibitors to get a cream of students who will come into our universities through the legitimate means,'' she said.
According to her, the group is working in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, National Council for Tertiary Education, National Accreditation Board and the Ghana High Commission.

Mrs Agnes Quashia, a recruitment officer, Ghana Technology University College, told NAN that prospective students should get more information about the schools they were interested in before making financial commitment. (NAN)

Reference: vanguard