The Federal Government, on Tuesday, said it would launch an investigation into private universities established in the last 15 years.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, made this known in Abuja while inaugurating the investigative panel on fake degrees and activities of degree mills in the country.
Mamman said the investigation would show if the private institutions under investigation have in the place prescribed facilities, adequate management structure, and adequate funding of programmes, among others.
He noted that the inter-ministerial committee set up to look into the activities of illegal universities would also examine “the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.”
Nigeria currently has a total of 147 private universities. Checks on the National Universities Commission’s website indicate that 107 of them were established in the last 15 years. Among them are Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State; Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State; Elizade University,Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State; and Baze University, Abuja, among others.
The education minister said the inter-ministerial panel had been given a mandate to “examine whether or not private universities established in the last 15 years have in the place prescribed facilities, appropriate management structure, adequate funding of programmes, requisite staff (nature of staff-full time, contract, adjunct, visiting, other types).”
The panel is also to “examine the procedures and processes for periodic accreditation of programmes in the universities by the NUC and examine their effectiveness in quality assurance of the programmes.”
The panel will also, as part of its Terms of Reference, “review the role of any MDA or its officials (including identifying such officials) in the facilitation of the recognition and procurement of the fake certificate in question.”
The panel will also “examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education.”
Other terms of reference include to: “Establish if unapproved foreign institutions (degree mills) exist or not in Nigeria in whatever form with their identities and locations if any.
“Make appropriate recommendations for review of any rules, procedures, processes to prevent re-occurrence and sanctions for identified erring officials.
“Make other recommendations that will strengthen the system of recognitions, accreditations and quality assurance of degrees in Nigeria
“Examine the extant rules, procedures and processes for granting of provisional licences to new universities by the National Universities Commission.:
The PUNCH reports that the activities of degree mills once again came to the centre of discussions in Nigeria following an investigative report by a journalist with the Daily Nigerian newspaper, Umar Audu, on the activities of degree mills in Benin Republic and Togo.
The reporter revealed how he obtained a degree within six weeks and even proceeded to embark on mandatory youth service under the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
Audu, who reached out to the syndicate that specialises in selling degree certificates in December 2022, graduated in February 2023 and was issued a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The report, which exposed the illegalities perpetrated by some tertiary institutions in the West African countries, led to the Nigerian government placing a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo.
No fewer than 10,900 Nigerian students studying in Beninois and Togolese universities are expected to be affected by the Nigerian government ban, according to statistics provided by the National Association of Nigerian Students in Benin Republic and Togo.
Also, the National Universities Commission, the regulatory body of universities in Nigeria revealed that no fewer than 18 out of the 58 universities whose operations have been suspended in Nigeria are foreign-owned.(Punch)
