The National Universities Commission (NUC) may have stunned Nigerians and indeed the international community recently as it announced that no fewer than 34 illegal universities were operating in the country.

Sadly, the list of the affected institutions showed that some foreign universities were operating in the country without the pre-requisite Federal Government approval. What’s more, some of the institutions are campuses of universities in the United Kingdom, such as Camlumbus, Tiu International Pebbles, Aston and London External Studies, among others.

Again, the list of the illegal institutions operating across the country include the United States International University, Missouri, in Kano and Lagos, Volta University College, Ghana and all its campuses, as well as the University of Applied Science and Management, Port Novo, Republic of Benin and its campuses.

Others listed are St. Andrews University College, Abuja and its campuses: Halifax Gateway University, Ikeja, Blacksmith University, Awka, Samuel Ahmadu University, Makurdi and UNESCO University, Ndoni, Rivers State.

Reacting to the resurgence of illegal institutions in the country, Prof. Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary of NUC, warned that certificates obtained from such illegal universities would not be recognized for any purpose, and announced that the relevant law enforcement agencies had already been informed for necessary action.

As it were, the quest for the review of the accreditation criteria for the nation’s universities has in the recent past dominated public discourse. Reason: Most of the country’s universities are also (currently) running unaccredited programmes to the detriment of unsuspecting students.

Worried by the trend, the authorities of NUC, not too long ago, announced fresh plans to carryout a nation-wide review of the criteria earlier used for the accreditation of programmes being run by both public and private universities across the country.

Dropping the news in Abuja, Prof Okojie said the commission would now accredit institutions and not pgorammes again. His words: “we are now embarking on institutional accreditation because the accreditation programme has not achieved the desired result in recent times,” and insisted that the accreditation exercise would ensure that each university was well equipped to run its approved programmes.

NUC, Prof. Okojie said, would embark on the 2007 round accreditation in which 942 programmes in the 13 disciplines in 53 universities would be examined, and announced that already, 125 panels have been constituted for the accreditation exercise.

The commission’s executive secretary also hinted that during the “2007 Comprehensive accreditation exercise”, university programmes which earlier earned full accreditation status would be x-rayed, and that programems which earned interim accreditation would be reviewed.

Although NUC’s latest move to sanitase the nation’s university system is long overdue, it is worthy of commendation as it would save the decay that has over the years enveloped the nation’s university system, thereby making mockery of the degree certificates obtained from some of the nation’s universities.

Therefore, it is hoped the current steps by the commission would achieve the desired result so that universities would meet the dreams, and aspirations of their founding fathers. Their dreams must be kept alive in the interest of the nation.

Yes, NUC’s planned review of accreditation of universities and their programmes, must be spiritedly handled in order to halt the emergence of unapproved programmes that pervade the country’s university campuses.

One can recall vividly that towards the end of Prof Aborishade’s tenure as Education Minister, some programmes were stopped on the orders of the minister, an action that gladdened the heart of educationists and other well-meaning Nigerians.

Indeed, the then minister’s action paid off as scores of unaccredited programmes and unapproved satellite campuses of universities were closed down across the length and breadth of the country.

Sadly enough, some of the satellite campuses and unaccredited programmes that were shut by the Aborishade-led administration, have, to the chagrin of many, resurfaced again in some of the tertiary institutions.

This is why the NUC’s authorities should ensure that any programmes that do not scale through the planned review exercise, must not be allowed to resurface in any of the universities in the country through the back door.