Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has inaugurated a 6 -Man committee to examine the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria.
At the inauguration ceremony held in Abuja on January 9, 2024, Mamman urged the committee members not to “blink for anybody” and gave them two months to submit their findings.
Reeling out the Terms of Reference to them, the Minister said, the investigative panel is to:
“Examine the veracity of the allegations of degree certificate racketeering within both foreign and local private universities in Nigeria;
“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 licences to new universities by the National Universities Commission (NUC);
“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 place prescribed facilities, appropriate management structure, adequate funding of programmes, requisite staff (nature of staff-full time, contract, adjunct, visiting, other types).
In response, Chairman Board Of Trustees, Committee of Vice Chancellors who is to serve as Chairman of the Probe Committee, Prof. Jubrila Amin promised that they would carry out their duties with due diligence.
Other members of the panel include: Amb. Yusuf Tuggar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security Adviser, Three Arm Zone, Nuhu Ribadu, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Minister of Youth Development, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim and Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Dr. Chris Maiyaki.
