NUC dismisses ASUU’s claim on accreditation

Executive Secretary of NUC Prof. Julius Okojie while addressing newsmen in Abuja said professors who conduct accreditation exercises are nominated by vice-chancellors or Directors of Academic Planning of various universities and he is personally unaware of their names.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a release signed by the University of Ibadan branch chairman of the union, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, called for the scrapping or total overhaul of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
ASUU, while calling on the National Assembly to beam its searchlight on the activities of NUC, insisted that the commission has failed to reposition Nigerian universities as shown by the NEEDS assessment report  which contradicted NUC’s accreditation exercises that gave a clean bill of health to most universities.
The release titled, ‘Where Okojie got it Wrong’ said that the NUC boss, Professor Julius Okojie cannot absolve himself from the rot in the university system by regulating quantity instead of ensuring quality delivery.
Dr. Ajiboye had accused Professor Okojie of allegedly using his cronies to embark on accreditation across universities.
But Okojie yesterday said the major challenge the NUC is facing with regards to accreditation are the professional bodies.
He said it was not the normal practice in developed societies for professional bodies to go for accreditation of courses after the regulatory body, adding that the problem would be resolved soon.
He said: “We ask VCs to give us professors. I do not know them or their names. We have a data bank and we don’t want a professor to go to a university he has worked in. We also insist that the universities inscribe their names on the equipment.”
Okojie said in the last eight years the commission has done its best to regulate the university system and has even challenged administrators to ensure quality assurance.