The Federal Government of Nigeria has said it is planning a crackdown on 66 universities and 68 polytechnics in the country.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu who spoke to newsmen in Abuja at the weekend gave a list of the 66 illegal universities and 68 polytechnics, monotechnics and specialized technical and vocational institutions.
He made it clear that the proliferation of higher institutions, universities has become source of embarrassment to the Federal Government.
Adamu identified greed and endemic corruption as some of the major factors responsible for the recent upsurge in the number of illegal institutions
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to direct all regulatory agencies in the public education sector, namely, The National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), to work with relevant security agencies to immediately crackdown hard on all illegal tertiary institutions within their jurisdictions.
“Promoters of such institutions should immediately be apprehended and
prosecuted. Let me warn those promoting illegal institutions that the days of
treating promoters of such
institutions with kid gloves are over. Anyone caught in the act will be
severely punished
“Most of the unapproved higher institutions are usually manned by unqualified and unrecognized personnel. While some of the illegal providers are operating illegal institutions based in Nigeria, some are on-line in unapproved linkages and affiliations with substandard foreign institutions that have no accreditation or recognition of regulatory bodies either in Nigeria or their home countries.
“They have no admission quota, they run unaccredited courses with practically no standards. Their products are half baked and unemployable.”
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