A certain medium published recently that the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC) had ranked the 154 Nigerian universities and listed out 100 that were considered qualified for ranking. This, however, has been refuted by NUC as fake report.
The DEFENDER’s investigations revealed that not only the National Universities Commission (NUC) did not carry out such ranking, which placed Covenant University of the leader of Winners’ Chapel, Ota, Ogun State as best private university in Nigeria and pushed the nation’s most patronized University of Ilorin to the base as number five next to Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and other two among the ranks of Federal Universities in the country, but also, that the NUC’s functions do not include ranking of schools.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) was established in 1962 as an advisory agency in the Cabinet Office. It however became a statutory body in 1974 when it got its first Executive Secretary, in the person of Prof. Jubril Aminu, who later served the country in the Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Education as Minister.
The NUC, which in its over 47 years of existence transformed from a small office in the Cabinet Office to an important arm of government in the area of development and management of university education in Nigeria, has its main functions outlined as: “i. Granting approval for all academic programmes run in Nigerian universities; ii. Granting approval for the establishment of all higher educational institutions offering degree programmes in Nigerian universities; iii. Ensure quality assurance of all academic programmes offered in Nigerian universities; and iv. Channel for all external support to the Nigerian universities.”
It is therefore impossible that the a statutory body like the NUC, whose functions do not have business with ranking of Nigerian universities but in summary providing a clean environment for ensuring saner learning and trustworthy products from the nation’s degree offering institutions, could have been involved in such report that it ranked 100 Nigerian universities.
On the website of NUC, universities were listed in alphabetical order with Federal, State and Private clearly separated.
Our search, in fact, showed that of eight private universities listed as approved by NUC to carry out part-time studies, one of the universities that the supposed ranking failed to mention as having any significance, Crescent University Abeokuta (CUAB) was placed on the top as number one.
Through our investigations, The DEFENDER was tasked to educate Nigerian people to pick their information about which Nigerian universities and their programmes are accredited or authentic or ranked from the NUC or NUC website instead of relying on what they read in the media since, according to our sources, even the media are now infiltrated with yet-to-be-checked fake journalists and fake people who operate on falsehood without recourse to the ethnics of the noble profession.
Responding, one of the sources said, “NUC came out clear on the rumour about ranking of universities. Those responsible for that report have been carrying such rumour for a long time now. It has been on for three or four years now and so it is not news. And NUC had come every time to dissociate itself from the report which is product of harking job.”
Among universities visited to react to the ranking was Crescent University in Abeokuta, where the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Dr. Kola Adeshina, said: “We read about the recent ranking purportedly credited to the National Universities Commission (NUC) but we know that it was nothing but fake because it has always come like that.
“Here at Crescent University, we rather celebrate our own achievements instead of bothering ourselves with fake ranking that we know was not carried out by the authorities they ascribed it to.
“If somebody, after training at Crescent University, can get a job with the BBC, that is not a small achievement. It is now left to you the media that we know and trust to be authentic to tell Nigerians that the so called NUC universities ranking was fake and that it has no representation in truth. Some desperate private universities’ proprietors are the ones sponsoring such reports.
“Even some of those universities listed ““have not even graduated any student while some of them have been closed. Even the particular private university that was placed on top in the purported NUC ranking as number one private in Nigeria, based on what because there is no criterion for it? And NUC does not even rank. It only comes to accredit individual courses. It is either you have full accreditation or interim or denial. It is the percentage of your accredited courses that determines the type of university you are.
“Whereas, our own accredited courses at Crescent University Abeokuta is 100 percent accreditation.
“So, what are they ranked for? Our students are doing well both locally and globally. They go abroad to make distinction. They are everywhere doing very well. So, what ranking are they talking about?”
He went further, “Quote me, if it is global ranking they are talking about, it will be foolish a recently established university in Nigeria to compete with Oxford or Cambridge within 10 years even 20 years. Isn’t that foolish?”
Kola Adeshina said at Crescent University Abeokuta, “We are not into ranking. We are into our impact on the society, our impact on further studies of our graduands and our impact on the job market. That’s all. Just go to NUC website and find out for yourself. You will see that there is no such thing of NUC ranking of universities there,” he said.
Other sources who spoke on strict demand for anonymity confirmed that there are some of universities, particularly, those of private intervention who, because of desperation for divert traffic to themselves in matter of admission, deliberately sponsor media reports, which they admitted, are largely fake as there is no follow up to the successes they ascribe to themselves.
The DEFENDER, however, can authoritatively confirm that of universities of Nigeria that are doing well – Federal, State and Private put together – is Crescent University Abeokuta which has been able to keep tract of its achievements as its products are now hotcake locally and internationally.
It has also been found out that due to their discovery of special qualities that are embedded in the ability of Crescent University to produce Nigerian leaders that will not steal the money of Nigeria but will also take the interest of the people at hearts based on the fear of God, many states’ governments across Nigeria are now in rush to hand their scholars to the university that is the peak of the education contributions of Islamic Movement for Africa (IMA).
To further show that CUAB is exceptional, even Christian parents and wards have no reason to hold back against it as many of them proudly belong to the university that is proprietored by a proud product of Baptist Boys’ High School (BBHS) Abeokuta, who rose later in life to be the first man to be elected as pioneer President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), then Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Prince Abdul-Jabbar Bolasodun Adesumbo Ajibola (SAN).
All of these feats put together formed part of the point Dr. Adeshina was making to question why some universities that have not been linked with any success could claim to be far ahead without the likes of Crescent that many within and outside the country have known to be symbolic with success as a centre for academic and moral excellence.
It should however be brought to the notice of our readers that the National Universities Commission (NUC), late October, approved the establishment of Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo in Gombe State.
The approval brings the number of state universities now operated in government at the state level in Nigeria to 46 and the number of universities in the country to 154.
In the meantime, the National Universities Commission (NUC) in June this year had sensitized the public against fake and illegal universities so that they would not fall into their hands. It released and published the fake universities and warned parents, guardians and students to be aware of the universities it listed which were operating in Nigeria and were awarding illegal degrees to unsuspecting students.
NUC warned that the universities were not approved and that their certificates were as a result declared fake.
See list of universities scattered all over the country (as published in June, 2017)…
