Authorities
of the private universities whose operational licences were on
Wednesday suspended by the National Universities Commission have
expressed shock, disappointment and embarrassment over the NUC
announcement.
The institutions said the NUC neither
informed them of any form of wrongdoing, nor sent notice before making
its decision public on Wednesday, adding that they learnt of the
suspension for the first time in the media.
In a telephone interview with one of our
correspondents on Thursday, the Registrar of Madonna University, Mr.
Theophilus Ugwoke, said the NUC announcement was a big surprise and an
embarrassment.
He said, “The point is that it is a big
surprise to us. The university is not being mismanaged by anybody. Our
transcripts and certificates are issued promptly. Everybody knows that
issuance of transcript is based on request and that is what we have been
doing. We also release our results promptly.
“We do not have any unapproved course
and all our programmes are duly accredited by the NUC. As at today, all
our programmes are approved. We operate from three campuses and all the
campuses are conducive for learning, so the whole announcement is a big
embarrassment to us.’’
He said the university would find out
what it had done wrong from the NUC before taking any decision on the
issue. “We want to find out where we went wrong, until we clear from
them, we won’t take any decision,’’ he added.
Though the Achievers University declined
giving a position on the issue, claiming that the Governing Council was
yet to meet, sources close to the institution said the university was
not informed of any form of wrongdoing by the NUC.
The source said the university learnt of the suspension for the first time in the media.
Also, the Director of Communication,
Lead City University, Dr. Ayo Owolabi, said the NUC did not inform the
institution of any wrongdoing.
He said the action of the regulatory
body was also in contempt of the court as an earlier judgment obtained
by the institution against the NUC had ordered it not to interrupt the
activities of the university.
He alleged that the action of the NUC
was calculated to embarrass the university and “de-market” the
institution. He accused the NUC leadership of bias against the
institution.
Noting that the university would make
its views known to the public, he said the university had not erred in
any way and would continue to carry on with its activities despite the
suspension order.
Owolabi however, said the NUC action was capable of discouraging investors in the higher education sector.
He advised that there should be a
division between regulatory authorities and accreditation bodies to
prevent accreditation exercises from being compromised.
The Registrar, Joseph Ayo Babalola
University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, Mr. Wale Aderibigbe, assured that
the suspension order by the NUC would soon be reversed.
In a telephone interview on Thursday,
Aderibigbe said, “We are in Abuja already. We are on top of the
situation. We hope that by tomorrow, our license shall be restored.”
Asked what could have led to the
suspension of license, Aderibigbe hinted that it could be the part-time
programmes run by the school.
The management of Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State, said there was no cause for alarm.
The Public Relations Officer of the
university, Mr. Chidi-Peters Okorie, told one of our correspondents on
Thursday that contrary to the story going the round, the licence of the
school was not withdrawn, but suspended.
He said, “It is like the accreditation
of courses. From time to time, the NUC comes around to set standards and
check if you are meeting the standards.”
Meanwhile, management and staff of
Caritas University in Enugu State on Thursday stopped its students from
protesting against the suspension of the institution’s licence by the
NUC.
A 200 level Computer Engineering
students, Friday Igbologe, said, “It’s really quiet here because our
students are not really violent. There would have been a protest, but
the school management and our lecturers were able to avert it by calming
the students; by telling them that the university only needs to fix one
or two things and the licence would be restored.”
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