Alausa threatens sack, licence withdrawal over accreditation fraud in tertiary institutions
By Uji A Iliyasu, Abuja
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has warned heads of tertiary institutions against manipulating accreditation exercises, saying officials who compromise the process risk losing their jobs while private institutions could have their operating licences revoked.
Alausa issued the warning on Wednesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Strengthening the Accreditation and Quality Assurance System for Tertiary Institutions.
He said the Federal Government would no longer tolerate institutions presenting inflated or misleading records of their academic capacity to accreditation teams, insisting that the quality of graduates must reflect approved national standards.
He said the consequences of weak accreditation are already evident in the difficulty employers face in recruiting qualified graduates.
“People say they want to hire engineers. They will have 500 candidates, but they wouldn’t be able to get two, three, four or five qualified applicants. That’s the damage we’re doing to this university,” he said.
The minister warned that institutions and officials would face consequences if they failed to meet required standards, adding, “You will lose your job if you don’t act on time. Private institutions will lose their licences.”
Alausa also announced an end to the practice of institutions temporarily borrowing academic staff, equipment and facilities from other institutions to meet accreditation requirements.
He said accreditation must reflect an institution’s genuine and sustainable capacity, rather than a temporary arrangement assembled solely for an accreditation visit.
The minister directed the committee to develop mechanisms for verifying the authenticity and continuous availability of academic and non-academic staff, as well as the ownership, functionality and sustained availability of facilities and equipment.
He advocated a digital, data-driven accreditation system incorporating geospatial mapping, geotagging and digital identification of infrastructure and major equipment.
Alausa also called for a comprehensive digital identity framework to verify staff presented for accreditation, including exploring collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission and the use of the National Identification Number alongside other secure technologies.
He expressed concern over illegal admissions into tertiary institutions, saying such admissions had reached hundreds of thousands.
Chairman of the committee and former JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, pledged to address abuses in accreditation and strengthen continuous monitoring of institutions.
He said the committee would also examine ways to harmonise accreditation processes among regulatory and professional bodies to prevent students from completing programmes that do not qualify them for professional training or registration.
The committee is expected to review existing accreditation policies and guidelines, identify loopholes, strengthen staff and resource verification, and improve the independence and accountability of accreditation panels.