9 more private varsities underway -NUC THE Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, Professor Julius Okojie, has disclosed that the commission has recommended nine new private universities to President Goodluck Jonathan for approval.The commission is also considering introduction of a pre-Doctoral Programme in the postgraduate studies in Nigerian universities.Speaking at an interactive session with Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN), Okojie disclosed that the proposed private universities had been approved by the NUC Governing Board.Okojie, however, said the proposals sent to the president through the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, would also receive the input and approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). He lamented that access to university education had been a major challenge in the country, with over one million Nigerians, who were, on annual basis, unable to gain admission into the limited tertiary institutions because of low carrying capacity.Okojie said to address this challenge, the private sector must be encouraged to participate actively in tertiary education delivery, saying the future of university education in Nigeria was in the hands of the private sector. The commission had so far licensed 50 private universities, with majority of them midwifed by Okojie, a development that has earned him Father of Private Universities in Nigeria.The NUC boss, who said he led members of the Commissions Steering Committee on Private Universities on tour of the proposed permanent sites of the universities, noted that he was satisfied with what they saw on ground to guarantee approval of the universities. Okojie said NUC had moved from a practice in the past, where approvals were given for establishment of private universities without structures in place.He, however, said the private sector had shown high level of interest in the provision of facilities for quality tertiary education, saying I have always said that for us to make meaningful progress in that direction, we have to encourage the private sector.He frowned at abuses of academic titles and vowed to ensure that the fake professor, who was arrested recently, was being prosecuted.He said NUC, by a stroke of luck, nabbed the man while trying to apply for the establishment of a private university in Nigeria, insisting that the man would be charged to court soon.He said the man, whose name is Ambi P.N and claimed to be a Professor of Statistics would appear in court alongside two others, who were also found to be bearing fake academic titles.According to him, further investigations into the background of the key actors of the proposed Nigerian British University revealed they were all fake. What was more even revealing there is that the three actors, the chief consultant, who was supposed to be a professor, the proprietor, who was supposed to be a Ph.D holder from Divinity School and a lawyer. They were all fake, he said.Speaking on the proposal for the private university, which landed the trio in trouble, Professor Okojie said it was dead on arrival, saying from the name, Nigerian British University, the lawyer was fake and proprietor was fake.Explaining what led to the arrest of the fake professors, NUC boss said that the whole episode was dramatic, as the professor appeared before the Commissions Steering Committee for Private Universities (SCOPU), where he said he was giving conflicting statements on where he obtained his Ph.D. Meanwhile, the executive secretary of NUC has disclosed that the commission is considering introduction of pre-Ph.D programme in Nigerian universities based on the recommendation of some of the vice chancellors.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 23:29:16 +0000
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