Illegal varsities and limited admission space

Currently there are about 58 illegal higher institutions operating in Nigeria. Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu looks at rising trend of this phenomenon and identifies possible causes.

Rising illegal higher schools

The number of illegal universities operating in Nigeria is on the rise.  This is alarming. Can these schools operate without the knowledge of the regulatory agency? Who gave the owners of such illegal institutions the operation licences? Or have the proprietors cut corners to dodge the approval of the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)? These are agencies saddled with the responsibility to approve new higher schools and accredit new courses in the old ones. Federal, state or private universities, which obtained valid operational licences must receive accreditation from the regulatory agencies for their new programmes. Is it truly the corruption some stakeholders said, that submerges the entire strata of the polity manifesting in the universities?

Fake universities

The NUC has said a total of 58 fake universities were carrying out illegal operations at the moment in Nigeria. The commission also disclosed that it was investigating eight other universities for running illegal degree programmes.  To this end, it has warned people seeking admission into universities against patronising any of the institutions, saying doing so would be at their own risks as certificates obtained from them will not give them opportunity to serve in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or employment in the public sector.

The commission which disclosed this in its weekly news bulletin, obtained recently in Abuja, explained that the affected universities have since been closed down for going against the national minimum standard for education.

Crackdown on fake schools

Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu said at a press conference in Abuja recently that the federal government had begun to crack down on illegal higher institutions in order to restore sanity in the education sector.

The minister said the move was necessary to make the job of regulatory agencies easier and protect students who fall easy preys to the fake proprietors of these schools and their foreign collaborators.

It is crucial to note that while some of the owners of these fake institutions are based in the country, some are unapproved affiliates to substandard foreign institutions abroad. These institutions do not enjoy the accreditation or recognition of regulatory bodies either in Nigeria or in their mother institutions abroad.

The proliferation of these illegal institutions makes the job of regulatory agencies in the sector very difficult. These institutions also evade taxes and flout the rules of the game, the minister said.

“The institutions have no admission quota. They run unaccredited courses with practically no standards, their products are half-baked and unemployable,” the minister stated.

The minister that the federal government is determined to confront this menace frontally rather than folding its arms and allow lawless conduct and impunity to overwhelm the sector.

Satellite Campuses

Long ago a ban was placed on satellite campuses, but the campuses grow unabated because the regulatory agencies seem to be sleeping on duty. Satellite campus is a study centre located away from its mother institution. 

The minister said the ban placed on satellite campuses was still in force, and directed all regulatory agencies in the education sector to work with security agencies to “track, close the illegal centres, apprehend and prosecute their owners”.

But most stakeholders agree that a proactive step to stop illegal schools before they find a site to operate is even better than allowing them to operate before closing them.

The regulatory agencies are the National Universities Commission (NUC, for universities); National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE, for colleges of education);  and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE, for polytechnics).

Most policy makers in the education sector agree that Nigerian parents and youths should take advantage of the programmes the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) provides rather than patronising these institutions that are just after their money?

Education  as vehicle for transformation

The importance of education as a vehicle for societal transformation can hardly be over stressed. Many advanced countries of the world today became so because of the early recognition they accorded education. The countries in the Western Europe and America which have earned the epithet of ‘First World’ became so because of the role science and technology, an offshoot of a national education system plays in their national aspirations.  Similarly, the countries in the Eastern Europe earned the   title of ‘Second World’ because of the same role education, through science and technology plays in their polity. And why are Africa and some poor countries in South America and Asia are referred to as ‘Third World’? 

In Asia, Japan and China have pulled out of the third world because they had caught up with western European and American technology. Nigeria and other African countries lag behind Europe and America in terms of scientific and technological advancement up today.

Inefficient graduates

Until recently, Nigerian  curriculum lacked some ingredients necessary for technological advancement. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one of the important ingredients left out of the system. This has  occasioned the churning out half-baked graduates, going by the new world order.

Such poor curriculum and education system cannot create a knowledge-driven economy in today’s world, which the generation and the exploitation of knowledge play the major part in creation of wealth.

Chairperson, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun state chapter, Dr. Bukola Onashoga, once blamed the widening gap between the academia and information technology industry in the country.

“There are various ways to look at it. When an institution fails to align the undergraduates with the practical know-how, or shield them from tapping the technical competencies of the practitioners in the field, such blames cannot be ruled out, because the students will be missing a lot,” she said.

General Manager, Cisco Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Mr. Dare Ogunlade, said, “One thing we can do in this era is to integrate some professionals into the academic world, instead of allowing the students to base their orientation or knowledge on the theoretical aspects of computing.

“It is good to involve them. The way we are going, it is good to involve the practitioners. The practical should not be limited to during project writing or thesis, rather from the first day a student enrolls in school, he ought to start learning ‘hands-on’ computer.”

Nigerian students abroad

In May last year, a  British higher education specialist and Director-General of Global Education Study Centre Mick Howarth, has disclosed that he is not happy seeing students from Nigeria travelling abroad to get university education. Howarth was expressing his disappointment over the fallen standard of higher education in the country. Speaking to journalists in his office in Lagos as part of activities to celebrate the centre’s 12th year anniversary and re-launch, Howarth stated that his study centre is a British Council approved education recruitment agency representing universities in Europe, North America, Asia and the Caribbean.

He said in spite of the difficult environment in which Nigerian universities are operating, they still churned out students with stellar performances even abroad.

“I am not happy that Nigerian students are leaving the country to study abroad. You know most parents obviously want their children to have a good education.

“Generally, education is given most priority abroad and I know how difficult it is here to get a good quality education. Some of the universities I worked with here have capable staff even sometimes without pay, lack of equipment to study particularly in technology subjects, etc. I think the system is not broken; it has some difficulties and those who can afford it send their wards abroad or to private universities.

“When students come in and show me their credentials, I noticed that they have a good match when compared with their oversea counterparts, which shows that the quality is better.” Howarth said.

Causes and remedies

The number of fake higher institutions in the county will continue to rise due to dereliction in the duty of the regulatory bodies. If there are 68 illegal higher institutions in Nigeria, then the ability and performance of regulatory bodies are called to question.

Also one of the major reasons that led to the proliferation of these fake higher institutions is the limited places in the nation’s universities polytechnics and other higher institutions. Every year millions of Nigerian youths apply for admission to federal and state universities polytechnics and colleges of education without success. These frustrated class take to the illegal centre where they get get their admission without stress.

In the 2019  UTME, the joint Admissions and Matriculation Borad (JAMB) has already announced that 869,709 students have so far applied. After the exercise, less than one third will get the admission and the larger number of applicants who are left in the cold will find sucour in the illegal centres.

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