The Federal Government has warned tertiary institutions in the country against borrowing lecturers, equipment and other facilities for the accreditation of academic programmes.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the warning on Wednesday in Abuja at the inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Strengthening the Accreditation and Quality Assurance System for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
Alausa said the present government was moving to overhaul the accreditation system for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to prevent institutions from creating a “temporary picture” of their capacity whenever accreditation teams visit.
He declared that officials who manipulate the process risk losing their jobs, while private institutions could have their licences revoked.
According to him, the government would no longer tolerate institutions that present inflated or misleading records of their academic capacity during accreditation exercises.
He said accreditation must reflect an institution’s actual and sustainable capacity rather than a temporary representation assembled solely for an accreditation visit.
“An institution should not be able to prepare a temporary picture of itself simply for the purpose of an accreditation visit. Sadly, this is what persists in the majority of instances,” the minister stated.
Alausa insisted that regulators must be able to verify that the resources actually exist and remain available after the accreditation exercise.
He said the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should ensure institutions meet prescribed standards throughout the year.
Alausa said, “Before an accreditation team arrives, the accrediting agency should already have reliable information on institutional staffing, facilities, laboratories, workshops and other equipment.”
“The physical visit will remain important, but it should increasingly serve to validate verified data rather than begin the verification process from scratch.”
The minister, therefore, directed the ministerial committee to develop mechanisms for verifying the authenticity and continuous availability of academic and non-academic staff presented for accreditation.
While noting that technology would greatly digitise accreditation processes, Alausa called for the use of geospatial mapping, geotagging and appropriate digital identification technologies for physical infrastructure, laboratories, workshops and major equipment.
“Critical equipment presented for accreditation should be capable of being digitally identified and linked to a specific institution and physical location,” he said.
The minister also advocated the use of digital identity systems to verify personnel presented for accreditation and detect cases where an individual is improperly presented as full-time personnel in multiple institutions.
He said collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) should be explored to utilise the National Identification Number (NIN), alongside the appropriate use of Bank Verification Number (BVN) infrastructure and other secure technologies.
The minister further expressed concern over illegal admissions into tertiary institutions, saying such admissions had run into hundreds of thousands.
He blamed the situation partly on the tolerance of irregularities under previous administrations but assured Nigerians that the President Bola Tinubu administration would no longer allow such practices to continue.
