A graduate identified as Alvin Ilenre, has explained why he burnt his educational certificates.
In a video which went viral in social media, Ilenre was seen setting ablaze his certificates.
In an interview with The PUNCH, the graduate of History and International Studies at Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, while explaining why he burnt his certificates stated,”I’ve been out of jobs since February 2022. So, I just hustle basically. Before then, I had done several things here and there but that’s it for me. Those were things I did before. Right now, I’m unemployed. That’s it for who I am for now”.
When asked if he truly burned the original copies of his certificate, he stated, “Yes, of course. I burnt my certificates. I burnt them because I was going through some things and I needed to give myself closure. That was why I burnt them.
“I didn’t know where I dropped my secondary school certificate amid all these, but the certificates I burnt were my university, primary school leaving, and National Youth Service Corps certificates.
“Also, there were certificates I didn’t burn. I need to state that I’m a minister of God, a trained minister even though I won’t mention my ministry.
“I didn’t burn the certificates from the ministry, because I was impacted by the grace of God over there so, I never burnt those. But I burnt the educational certificates that are useless in the country.”
While shedding more light on what led to his actions he said, “The reason why I burnt the certificates is not far-fetched from the kind of society we are in and a lot of people in the country can relate to these things that we’re talking about here. It is frustrating being in a country where your certificate is not regarded.
“We’re in a country where a certificate has been bastardised. You know, we behave like we don’t know what’s happening whereas the country is decaying. I have a lot of points but I’ll mention a few.
“First of all, I graduated from school and I wanted to get a job, but someone was telling me to go and bring N2.5m. Where will I get that from? Where should I get it from? Where will I get N2.5m to get a job? If I had that money with me wouldn’t I start a business, or maybe go outside the country, to one African country where electricity is steady, and start a business? You can’t start a business in this country and your millions will not go down the drain.”
Two, I’ve had issues with people, friends, especially female friends, who told me that they were offered jobs on the condition that they would have sexual relationships with the employers or whoever wanted to make it happen. Jobs are not got with credibility, credence, and authenticity again. It is now who can sleep their way to employment. These are things that are happening.
