FG Orders Probe Of Nigerian Private Universities

The Federal Ministry of Education, under the guidance of the Federal Government, has inaugurated a committee to scrutinize the activities of private universities established in Nigeria in the last 15 years.

This announcement was made by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, on Tuesday.

The primary focus of this committee will be to evaluate whether these private institutions have adhered to the required standards, including the presence of prescribed facilities, an adequate management structure, and sufficient funding for their programs.

The move comes amid growing concerns about the quality and legitimacy of education some of these institutions provide.

Additionally, Prof. Mamman highlighted that the inter-ministerial committee will delve into allegations of degree certificate racketeering, a problem that reportedly plagues both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.

The committee’s investigation will examine the authenticity of these allegations and determine the extent of such malpractices.

While listing the functions of the committee, the minister said, “Review the role of any MDA or its officials (including identifying such officials) in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of the fake certificate in question;

“Review existing policies and procedures related to accreditation and certification to identify weaknesses contributing to the issue; examine the rules, procedures and processes for recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programmes by the Federal Ministry of Education.

“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 recommendation 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 licenses to new universities by the National Universities Commission.

“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;

“Without prejudice to the periodic accreditation exercise of the NUC, 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).”