Stop Indiscriminate Approval Of New Universities In Nigeria – Afe Babalola Tells FG

Legal expert and elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has cautioned the Federal Government (FG) against the indiscriminate approval of licenses for new universities.

Babalola, who established Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), emphasized that granting permission for new universities without adequate attention to quality and infrastructure could have detrimental effects on the nation in the long run if not addressed promptly.

Naijaonpoint reports that Babalola delivered this warning during his address at the High Impact Research and Journal Advancement Workshop, hosted by ABUAD, on Monday in Ado-Ekiti.

He recalled that during the tenure of Prof. Peter Okebukola as the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the commission was known for its thorough and diligent approval process for new universities.

The processes of visitation and accreditation were not only stringent but also made it exceedingly difficult for anyone to gain approval to launch degree programs, particularly in fields such as Medicine, Engineering, and Law, especially in the initial years of a university’s establishment, Afe Babalola remarked.

“But what do we have today? Mass approval of mushroom and substandard universities, with some lacking even the basic learning facilities and infrastructure.

“As a result of this anything-goes syndrome, the approach to university licensing and accreditation and NUC’s ability to ensure quality control and to stamp out substandard institutions have been seriously compromised.

” We currently have over 270 universities in Nigeria, and proposals for the approval of another 200 new institutions are currently under consideration by the National Assembly,” Babalola said.

According to Babalola, the focus now seems to be on quantity, not quality, licensing more universities without adequate plans for monitoring their standards.

“The end result is a rapid decline and rot of our educational system and in the quality of our graduates.

“What we need is quality education, because poor education is worse than illiteracy,” the SAN stressed.

Babalola stated that Nigeria cannot genuinely progress in sustainable development through impactful research without first tackling the issue of the increasing number of substandard universities in the country.

” If we are really serious about accelerating national development through research, the starting point will be that the process of approval for university licences should be thorough,” he said.

In his lecture titled “Promoting High-Impact Research Publications for Sustainable National Development in Nigeria: Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions,” Professor Okebukola emphasized the necessity of fostering collaborations with international researchers to enhance the rankings of Nigerian institutions.