The Federal House of Representatives on Thursday mandated its Committee on Education to investigate activities of the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) over alleged corruption in the process of accrediting programmes in Nigerian universities.
The resolution was passed after the adoption of the motion sponsored by Abayomi Kabir, which was unanimously supported during Thursday plenary.
The committee is to determine if the condition of physical facilities and teaching staff meets the benchmark and minimum academic standards of programmes in the universities. The committee is also to find out other approved accreditation guidelines and report to the House within four weeks.
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 in the process of accreditation of courses in Nigerian universities. He said that in spite of the fact that the education sector had the highest budgetary allocation in the 2013 Appropriation Act, Nigerians have not felt the impact of such allocation. This, he noted, is due to deteriorating quality of education.
The lawmaker said 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 concerns 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 said the situation had cast doubt on the credibility of the accreditation procedure of the NUC. He added 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 are left unchecked, the imbalance in the regulation of universities would persist and might result in further decline in the quality of education.
