We need to stop ‘old schoolboy’ accreditation process

Dear Editor

Thank you for the piece by Alex Abutu in the University World News Africa edition of 16 January 2020, titled “Universities body defends accreditation practices”, a follow-up to an earlier story on 7 December 2019 titled “Academics highlight flaws in annual accreditation process”.

The distinguished NUC [National Universities Commission] executive secretary tried to do a good job defending his staff on “the allegations of corrupt practices levied against some staff of the commission during the ongoing course accreditation at Nigerian universities”.

I am glad he defended only the NUC staff who “served as mere secretaries with no powers to influence the outcome”. He further confirmed the innocence of the NUC staff by saying “only professors evaluate, score and make recommendations”.

In distancing the NUC from the allegation that “the accreditation process was flawed”, he further said that “the process of accreditation entails a peer review process where only professors drawn from the Nigerian university system (not NUC) were always used as panelists”.

So it appears the NUC is powerless to do anything about the recommendations of the professors. I agree with him. However, he said the panelists (professors) were fully screened by the NUC before embarking on any accreditation trip.

This is exactly why the accreditation is called NUC accreditation, and the executive secretary cannot shift the issue of a flawed exercise to the professors’ playing field. These professor-panelists are working fully for and on behalf of the NUC; none of them is representing the university they work for.

When Nigeria posts an ambassador to any country, that ambassador represents the country and he or she is not serving himself or herself. He or she is the Nigerian ambassador representing all of Nigeria, period.

So, the executive secretary should not and cannot stop at defending only his NUC staff while leaving the professors, who are also screened by the NUC, out in the cold.

From the University World News report, all I gathered was that the executive secretary says the NUC staff are not participants in the alleged flawed accreditation process. I did not read that the executive secretary denied the allegation of a flawed process or that Nigerian universities were allegedly deceiving the NUC by inflating staff numbers through the hiring of ‘mercenaries’ from other universities.

‘Brown’ envelopes

I think the executive secretary should have gone beyond defending the NUC staff and commented on the alleged flawed accreditation, and hiring of professorial mercenaries. I guess, like the true man of integrity that he is, he is aware that these allegations cannot be defended.

Indeed, the NUC accreditation process is flawed in several ways, and it is common knowledge that ‘brown’ envelopes are demanded openly, brazenly and blatantly. At other times, they are demanded secretly or with subtle threats of non or interim accreditation. The demand and acceptance of ‘brown’ envelopes has become an essential part of the NUC accreditation process, and the NUC cannot pretend not to know that it is common practice.

Whenever there are allegations that some of the people who conduct accreditation exercises in the name of NUC receive brown envelopes, the NUC shifts the blame onto the professors who are working for the NUC.

The NUC asks: “Are those who give and take the envelopes not your academic colleagues?” Of course, I expect the NUC will ask me to provide evidence. That is the usual way out of not facing the problem and taking the easy way out. Just as many people are asking for evidence of bribery and corruption in the Nigerian political system. Please give me the evidence that our leaders are corrupt.

‘Mercenaries’

Let us not even go into the issue of inflation of staff numbers through the hiring of ‘mercenaries’ from other universities. We have electronic monitoring devices that NUC can use to fish out the mercenaries.

It is clear and glaring that many lecturers are hirelings, peddling their certificates to the numerous newly-created staff-starved universities, and when universities hire lecturers for accreditation purposes, like building contractors hire artisans on a daily basis, then you wonder about the standard of teaching in our universities and the quality of the degrees awarded. The question we must continue to ask is: what is the NUC doing about the deplorable situation?

One area that the NUC needs to address is the whole system of using the same university teachers who design the benchmarks, teach the courses, and end up accrediting the same courses for the NUC.

Granted, a university professor does not accredit the courses in his or her own university, but we know now … they are all in the same system. A professor of chemistry in University A may have been a former postgraduate student of the chemistry professor in University B. And you send him or her to accredit the chemistry department of his supervisor!

Akin to inbreeding

The problem with the NUC accreditation is similar to the genetic outcome of inbreeding. What we need in Nigeria now is an independent accreditation agency outside the university system. Let the teachers set their own benchmark, and teach the courses developed from the benchmark. But let someone else accredit what they are teaching.

The ideal accreditation process should be impartial, objective and conducted by a third party, not by the people who provided the guideline or those implementing the guideline. Immediately we see a major problem with the accreditation of our universities as conducted by the NUC. The NUC sets the operating guidelines for universities, oversees the university accreditation system and draws the accreditation team from staff of the universities being accredited.

A more transparent accreditation system, not involving the NUC and university staff serving as judges and juries but involving independent third parties, should be introduced. The NUC must always remember that the accreditation of Nigerian universities it carries out bears the tag: NUC Accreditation.

While there is no perfect system, using an accreditation body that cares about its reputation will certainly be better that the current ‘old schoolboy association’ accreditation that we currently run in Nigeria.

It is the same system that produced the over 100 fake professors confirmed by the executive secretary himself. The Nigerian university system should tackle the issues of fake professors and university accreditation with the same tenacity, stubbornness and firmness that the Academic Staff Union of Universities handles its negotiations with successive governments. Only then can we have confidence in our accreditation exercises.

Professor Oyewale Tomori
Professor of virology, educational administrator, and former vice-chancellor of Redeemer's University, Nigeria.