FG frowns at multiple accreditation bodies to universities, says practice unacceptable

The Federal Government has expressed dissatisfaction with the current multiple accreditation bodies to universities, saying the practice where over 25 professional bodies seek to accredit courses in universities at the expense of the institutions is unacceptable.

Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, strongly condemned the unwieldy process and asked for streamlining of accreditation to tertiary institutions to achieve the desired quality assurance rather than using it as an avenue to extort the institutions.

He particularly lamented that 25 professional bodies pursuing accreditation of courses in universities is not only chaotic but usurpation of powers of National Universities Commission (NUC) that has regulatory mandate to accredit courses and programmes offered by universities.

According to the minister, some professional bodies go to the extent of closing down programmes in tertiary institutions for one reason or the other without recourse to NUC.

Alausa insisted that the conflicting requirements, high costs, and logistical challenges have disrupted the effectiveness of Nigeria’s university accreditation process. He raised concerns about universities being forced to fund accreditation visits, stating that accreditation should not become a business that enriches a few individuals while complicating the system.

According to him, “If you want to accredit, go and accredit. It’s not the university’s duty to fund your process.”

He maintained that the accreditation of academic programmes remains the statutory responsibility of the National Universities Commission (NUC), and called for a balanced approach that upholds university autonomy while protecting public funds and academic standards.

Alausa said: “50 years ago, we had just about six or seven bodies and most of you will attest to that. However, over the last 50 years, things have changed.

“There’s been modernisation of the processes, but then, we should not abuse the same processes that we are modernising. We also aim to meet world standards. We shouldn’t turn accreditation into business. It complicates life for the system.

“We have 71 federal and 160 private universities. We have over 25 accrediting bodies going to our universities at different times. We know that you are backed by acts and as a country we believe and respect every single aspect of our law and order. However, as an education policy-making organ of the government backed by the constitution, we also must ensure that our constitution is well followed.

“The Medical and Dental Council was set up just to monitor the quality of doctors and nurses that we are producing from my institutions. The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria was set up to monitor the quality of products that we are producing as the nation. The Nursing and Medical Council was set up to monitor the quality of nurses and midwives that we are producing as a nation. I think we had the Veterinary Council of Nigeria as well, among others.”

He added: “Over the years, modernization in every society came in. Other institutions came up. But then, you could be a professional association, licensing the products, giving them licenses, but not going to a university to just accredit the courses. We have a National University Commission that is legally and statutorily allowed to do that.”

“Figure this out as a vice chancellor, you have 25 associations bombarding your institution at different times asking you to pay for their accommodations, and to pay them stipends. If you want to accredit, go and accredit. It’s not the duty of the universities to pay for your services. More so as we do this, we limit the number of students and other citizens that we give opportunities to. We have a big country of 220 million people with its 70 per cent below the age of 30 years. We have to give them opportunities.

“We saw what happened during JAMB’s annual admission meeting. I projected some data. We have over 121 universities, 174 polytechnics and over 125 colleges of education that had less than 50 students applying to go to those schools. As a professional council, you should not limit capacity. You are limiting the number of students that these universities can take. As you do that, you are limiting access to them,” the Minister stated.

Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, who also spoke at the meeting, supported the call for reform and urged stakeholders to adopt a unified framework that safeguards institutional roles while promoting accountability and quality.

He said conflict of interests regarding accreditation by NUC and professional bodies were affecting tertiary institutions and should be resolved as soon as possible.

He said: “When there are problems and you are sweeping them under the carpet, the problems will persist. So, this is an important meeting. Even as a former VC 12 years ago, I also experienced problems with accreditation and contradictions.

“For instance, NUC will come and say for you to have accreditation, 60 per cent of your staff must have PhDs. ICAN will come the following week and say I don’t care about PhD, how many of them are professionally qualified? And those who have been accredited by NUC are denied accreditation by ICAN because of the contradiction rules.

“Veterinary Council of Nigeria will come and talk about fellowship of veterinary medicine, that you must be a fellow. The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria will come and say they care about fellowship, whereas NUC will say I don’t care about the fellowship, I only care about PhDs. These are the contradictions.

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“But in other climes, they have two patterns. One is, we train you as a university, we leave the professional bodies to determine which of them you want to take and set your standard after they have taken their certificates, the former is not their business. In other places, they do it jointly and they will leave. These are the two patterns that I know of in the world. Even in Ghana, here. I’m not aware of where people go separately and create contradictory problems.

“Anyone who has a relationship at the National Assembly now has a license to go and accredit. It has gotten to a situation whereby people will begin to ask questions, Oloyede stated.

Executive Secretary of NUC Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, on his part, said the faceoff between NUC and professional bodies is as a result of lack of communication, suggesting that professional bodies must work together with NUC.

He said: “Just to mention, at NUC, the law is very clear. The law provides that NUC sets minimal academic standards for degrees, whether it is first degree or postgraduate degrees, and to monitor.

“But of course, as the minister said, some professional bodies, over time, have their laws requesting that they should also monitor, to the extent that they even close programmes.

“You don’t close what you have not opened. I have seen a situation where a professional body went to a university and closed programmes. When we go for accreditation, we don’t just say we close programmes because students are there.

“If you are denied accreditation, we say stop admission. We write to JAMB to stop admission, but those who are in a programme must complete the programme. They know that they are completing a programme that has no accreditation, but we have a situation where a professional body will go to a university and say, we have closed that department or programme,” he explained.

Ribadu promised to ensure that the parties engage in dialogue on how to streamline the accreditation process as directed by the minister.

He called for a harmonised national approach, citing international best practices where professional bodies and universities either collaborate or operate with clearly defined responsibilities.

However, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG), Professor Zacheus Opafunso, argued that professional bodies play a distinct and essential role in regulating qualifications in their respective fields and should be allowed to continue conducting accreditation exercises.