The Federal Ministry of Education, under the directive of Minister Prof. Tahir Mamman, has established a committee to investigate the activities of private universities established in the last 15 years in Nigeria.
The committee’s primary focus is to assess if these institutions comply with prescribed facilities, possess adequate management structures, and maintain sufficient funding for their programs, among other criteria.
During the inauguration of the inter-ministerial committee on degree mills in the country, Prof. Mamman stated that the committee would also examine the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.
The committee is expected to investigate the activities of illegal universities and assess the roles of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) or their officials in facilitating the recognition and procurement of fake certificates.
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The functions of the committee include reviewing existing policies and procedures related to accreditation and certification, identifying weaknesses, and examining rules and processes for the recognition and accreditation of foreign universities and programs by the Federal Ministry of Education.
The committee will also investigate the existence of unapproved foreign institutions (Degree Mills) in Nigeria and make recommendations to prevent re-occurrence and suggest sanctions for identified erring officials.
Furthermore, the committee will examine the procedures for granting provisional licenses to new universities by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and assess the effectiveness of the periodic accreditation of programs in universities by the NUC.
Specifically, without prejudice to the NUC’s periodic accreditation exercise, the committee will investigate whether private universities established in the last 15 years meet criteria such as prescribed facilities, appropriate management structures, adequate funding, and requisite staff.
This initiative comes in the wake of increased scrutiny on the activities of degree mills, particularly in West African countries, following an investigative report exposing illegalities in some tertiary institutions.
The Nigerian government had previously placed a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo after revelations of degree mill activities in these countries.
The investigation had a significant impact on Nigerian students studying in these institutions, with statistics indicating that over 10,900 students may be affected by the ban.
Additionally, the National Universities Commission disclosed that 18 out of the 58 universities whose operations were suspended in Nigeria were foreign-owned.
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