The House of Representatives has
mandated its Committee on Education to investigate allegations of corruption in
the process of accrediting programmes in Nigerian Universities and its
attendant’s effects. The committee is to determine if
the condition of physical facilities and teaching staff meets the benchmark and
minimum academic standards of programmes in Nigerian universities. It is also........
to find out other
approved accreditation guidelines and report back to the house within four
weeks.
The resolutions followed a motion
by Rep. Abayomi Kabir (APC-Lagos), which was unanimously adopted without debate
when put to vote by the Speaker, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal. The motion was entitled:
“Allegation of corruption in process of accrediting programmes in Nigerian
universities and its attendant effects’’. Kabir alleged that there had been
incessant allegations of imbalance and fraudulent practices against the
National Universities Commission (NUC) in the process of accreditation of
courses in Nigeria universities.
He said that in spite the fact
that the education sector had the highest budgetary allocation in 2013
Appropriation Act; Nigerians had not felt the impact of such allocation. This, he noted, was due to
deteriorating quality of education.
The lawmaker said that the
committee set up by the Federal Government, which carried out National
Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), assessment of Nigerian public
universities, identified numerous deficiencies in the university system. He expressed concern that the
`rot’ identified in the NEEDS report appeared to have belied the full
accreditation status granted by the NUC to some programmes in the universities
that were assessed. Kabir added that the “situation’’
had cast doubt on the credibility of the accreditation procedure of the NUC. He said that the process of
accreditation “ought to provide a means of recognising some levels of
performance, quality and integrity which would engender confidence from the
public and the educational community’’.
Kabir expressed concern that if
such acts of corruption were left unchecked, the imbalance in the regulation of
universities would persist and might result in further decline in the quality
of education. He said that it was important
that the committee on education looked into the activities of NUC with a view
to assessing its level of performance. (NAN)
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