The National Universities Commission NUC, says it is in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission ICPC, to remove illegal universities from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, disclosed this in Abuja during an interactive section with Nigerian media on recent development in the Nigerian University System.
“We have set up a committee to look into that and I can tell you that we are doing a lot to end the ugly trend of the illegal mills”, he said.
According to him, the commission is facing very serious challenges from the universities, even as he called for concerted effort to ensure that the system continues to thrive.
Prof. Adamu also urged members of the public to assist in reporting illegal universities, he added that the task of safeguarding the quality of the university system is not only that of the Commission.
The Executive Secretary of the NUC said the commission has no hand in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor for tertiary institutions in the country.
According to him, “Even the Minister of Education or the President of the Federal Republic have no hands in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of any university”
He described the ASUU strike, as the biggest threat to the nation’s university calendar, stating that there is hardly any two federal universities with the same academic calendar because of the disruptions caused by unions’ strike.
On the issue of quality in the system, he disclosed that NUC has given Vice Chancellors a directive to ensure that a semester lasts 17 weeks and not to complete semesters in six weeks.
It would be recalled that the Federal government through National Universities Commission released newly-developed curriculum for Nigerian universities.
PIAK
