Universities Commission panel indicts two Nigerian varsities

By Usman Ahmed
Kanempress
8th July 2023

The committee set up by the National Universities Commission, to look into the activities of two private universities, Ave Maria University, Piyanko, Nasarawa State, and Khadija University, Majia, Jigawa, has submitted its reports.

The committee, headed by Professor Francis Egbokhare, was set up by the immediate past Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Rasheed submitted its findings after two months of sitting.

The report by the Committee observed that in the course of carrying out its assignment challenge with result verification, that both institutions were found to be “grossly understaffed as well as over dependence on visiting lecturers.”

“In addition, the committee discovered that Khadija University’s vice chancellor was a visiting lecturer, while in Ave Maria University, one of the deans was also a visiting lecturer and visits only thrice a month,” it noted.

“To worsen the situation, most of the lecturers in both institutions were part-timers which grossly affected their duties. Most of their programmes had not gone through Resource Verifications, which portends great danger and a cause for concern and had also not employed lecturers.”

The report said that the proprietor of Khadija University had invested a lot on structures and that Ave Maria had a lot of potential with the level of work done so far.

Similarly, the vice chairman of the committee, Prof Yahuza Bello, who represented the chairman, said the committee found a plethora of issues in both institutions, “ranging from observed infractions about their governance and the management being meddlesome.”

The committee made recommendations to benefit the affected universities and others across Nigeria.

The immediate past Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Rasheed had during the inauguration of the committee decried how the vice chancellors of both universities were hired and fired by their owners.

He had set up the committee to curb the challenges of both institutions, with the view of finding lasting solutions to the problems.

Professor Rasheed also charged the committee to look at the governance and operations of the two institutions and interrogate the management staff.