NUC to clamp down on 67 illegal universities in Nigeria
Story from Abah ADAH, Abuja
The executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, has said that the commission would soon embark on a clampdown of 67 illegal universities in Nigeria.
According to a report by NewsGazette, Rasheed who was speaking at the 11th Convocation ceremony of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, stated that the task of nation-building and churning out patriotic Nigerians in an envisaged “new Nigeria” should begin at universities.
“The issue now is the menace of illegal universities, satellite campuses and centres, which at the last count, stood at 67 in number. To worsen the matter, they all award certificates.
“The commission is taking steps through inter agencies collaboration to tackle the untoward development headlong, especially by mass sensitisation of unsuspecting patrons through the periodic publication of a list of such degree mills.
“The New Nigeria project is a task that must be accomplished by all.
“Despite notable successes being recorded by the commission, it still faces some challenges. These include the intervention of professional bodies with respect to the requirements for the benchmark minimum academic standard.
“At times, their specifications, rules and regulations distort, contradict or outrightly violate extant academic procedures as stipulated by the NUC.”
In his remarks, the governor of Kwara State, Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, represented by the Commissioner for tertiary education, Mr Ibrahim Suleiman, said his government would continue to invest in education which he described as “bedrock of any nation.”
Also speaking, the vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Noah Yusuf, said the institution would continue to uphold its non-discriminatory academic standards, as its contributions to good academic rankings in Nigeria could not be over-emphasised.
He urged the federal government to embark on-farm settlements as a solution to incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the country.
A total of 1, 079 graduands out of which 28 bagged First Class, were conferred with varying degrees across different disciplines.
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