Top academic slams accreditation body for negligence

A top Nigerian academic has generated heated debate after publicly criticising the country’s university accreditation agency for lack of autonomy, negligence and double standards in its annual accreditation of courses. All accusations have been denied by the agency.

In a lecture at the University of Abuja in February Professor Oyewale Tomori – a renowned virologist, former vice-chancellor of Redeemer’s University and current president of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences – accused the National Universities Commission, or NUC, of becoming a mouthpiece for government and failing to perform its duties as a regulatory agency created to ensure quality in universities.

He accused the NUC of aiding and abetting corruption in its accreditation exercise, and said there were allegations that some people conducting accreditation “receive brown envelopes” – a euphemism for bribes – which also undermined the credibility of NUC accreditation.

Tomori said it was “clear and glaring” that many lecturers were “hirelings” who peddled their certificates to “numerous newly-created staff-starved universities”.

He continued: “When universities hire lecturers for accreditation purposes, like building contractors hire artisans on a daily basis, then you wonder what type of accreditation we are getting in our universities and what NUC is doing about it?”

The academy president said he had drawn attention during a recent accreditation exercise to unfairness in the process, to the “corner-cutting propensities” of universities and the pitiable standards of teaching and research in universities which led to the production of the “half-baked and undercooked meat pies we call graduates of our university system”.

Autonomy and accreditation

The NUC was accused of being tied to government’s apron strings, losing its autonomy and vibrancy. Tomori was saddened when former Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck created eight universities without any enabling law of the National Assembly, and the NUC allegedly looked the other way.

He was further saddened when current Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari summarily sacked 13 vice-chancellors without the input, as required by law, of the governing councils of the universities. According to Tomori, the NUC did not utter a word against the move.

During his seven-year tenure as vice-chancellor of Redeemer’s University, the university paid money to assist in the feeding and accommodation of people sent by the NUC for accreditation. Not only was there no refund, but Tomori believed his institution got a raw deal.

“My university was levied a certain sum, and I requested details on how the amount levied was arrived at. The initial response of the NUC was to label me rude and troublesome.”

After insisting on details, Tomori said he was told the levy was to cover transport and daily subsistence for the accreditors coming to review five programmes over a period of two to three days. But instead of having five people, only three had showed up and stayed briefly.

“The NUC is yet to respond to my request for a refund for the transport and subsistence allowance we paid for the two others who did not show up at all, and the subsistence allowance for those who stayed for 12 hours instead of three days. I need not tell you that some of those programmes ended up with interim accreditation!”

Outdated standards

Tomori also criticised the NUC for continued use of the Minimum Benchmark Academic Standard that, he alleged, predated Nigeria’s independence and was outdated. Further, the NUC requirements that academic programmes should be fully computerised and all academic staff should hold PhDs were yet to be fulfilled in most of Nigeria’s 140 or so universities.

Tomori referred to comments made in a speech earlier in the year by Professor Salihu Mustafa, vice-chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, who said there was a challenge in getting Nigerian universities to admit they had serious problems.

“Most programmes and curricula in Nigerian universities are outdated, equipment for teaching and research are either obsolete or non-existent and academic staff are inadequate” and saddled with heavy teaching loads, Mustafa said.

Calls for a radical shake-up

Tomori’s assertions garnered support from an editorial published in March in the daily Punch newspaper. It called on the NUC to look into the accusations.

The editorial stated: “A radical shake-up of the university monitoring process is long overdue to safeguard standards and improve the quality of our higher education. The NUC should immediately review the way university education courses are accredited. It must ensure that appropriate and effective teaching, support, assessment and learning resources are provided.”

In an advertisement in some newspapers, NUC Director Ibrahim Usman Yakasai denied all Tomori’s allegations, including government interference in its autonomy and workings. The assertions were “unfounded and spurious”, he said, adding that the agency’s due diligence, transparency and hard work had won it national and international “accolades”.

Tomori called for an independent team to examine the NUC’s performance since inception and determine what role it has played in bringing the university system to its current state. In addition, the body should evaluate universities and determine which should be retained.

“The future of universities in Nigeria is too important to be left alone in the hands of the government and NUC,” he argued.