FG And UNIABUJA Accreditation Crisis

The unwholesome development at the University of Abuja over the suspension of four major courses, three years after the National Universities Commission (NUC) failed to grant accreditation for the programmes, is nothing but a national humiliation.

The suspension which resulted in the non-graduation of three batches of students in Health and Medical Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture Faculties and the subsequent violent protest by aggrieved students led to forceful closure of the university.

We condemn the continued running  of unaccredited courses by the authorities of the University of Abuja, for three years without deliberate effort to meet the standard requirement of the NUC, and other regulating bodies such as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Veterinary Council of Nigeria and Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

It is regrettable that such an ugly situation that tends to frustrate the destiny of thousands of  the Nigerian youths desirous of adding value to the future development of the nation, could be allowed to occur at the University of Abuja that should be a model of excellence in public sector education.

While The Tide appreciates the worry of the Federal Government over the failure of the university authorities to take proactive measures to address the accreditation problem of the institution, we are quick to add that the Federal Government and its relevant agencies should equally share in the blame for allowing the situation to linger for so long without a corresponding check to save the students from this irreparable damage.

It is in the light of this, The Tide commends the urgent steps taken by the Federal Government in setting up a committee comprising officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the NUC, the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), and the regulating bodies to assist the university authorities to remedy the situation within six months.

It is our view that if adequate political will is mustered by all the parties in the remedy operation, appreciable progress that would facilitate the lifting of the suspension and subsequent accreditation of the courses could be achieved within the set target of six months.

We equally view the entire scenario as the manifestation of the embarrassing decay which has, over the years, eaten deep into the fabrics of our educational system and contributed to its low standard that has reduced the quality of degrees obtained from Nigerian universities.

We, therefore, call for the urgent formulation of more proactive legislation that could further strenghten the NUC to apply more stringent measures that would check such deceit and arrant recklessness demonstrated by the authorities of the Universty of Abuja in offering admission to unsuspecting students into unacredited programmes of study.

We suggest that effective public enlightenment processes should be applied to regularly inform and educate prospective students and their counsellors, while effective co-ordination should be made to exist between the NUC and the Joint Admission  and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to ensure that universities do not go beyond their bounds in the admission of students.

As a dynamic regulatory agency acting as a catalyst for positive change and innovation for the delivery of quality university education in Nigeria, the NUC should be practically seen to be fulfilling its mission of ensuring orderly development of a well coordinated and productive university system that will guarantee quality and relevant education for national development and global competitiveness.

The hideous development at the University of Abuja should equally serve as a wake up call to the Federal Government on the urgent need to take a more critical look at the basic needs of  public universities and expand the required funding to save the nation of the shame in the tertiary education sector.

We should not be reminded as a nation that education is the bedrock of the development of any nation. It is high time the huge mess in the educational system was cleared to rescue Nigeria from total collapse.