The Nation Newspaper

Tag: accreditation

  • Autonomy, teachers hinder college’s accreditation

    As the Provost of the Anambra State College of Health Technology (ASCOHT), Obosi, Dr Maurice Chuks Agu administered matriculation oaths on 300 fresh students last Saturday, he urged Governor Peter Obi to facilitate the institution’s autonomy and employ more teachers.

    Though he praised Obi’s support and provision of learning facilities to the college, he lamented that lack of autonomy and employment of permanent lecturers were hindering the institution from securing final accreditation from various accreditation bodies.

    He said the government has provided the college with a functional library, well-equipped laboratories, extra classrooms, and hostels among others.

    Responding, the Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr Lawrence Ikeakor, represented by the permanent secretary, Dr Austin Nnalue, congratulated the students for scaling the admission process and assured them that the school will continue to get response from the government on their problems admitting that there is a great need to get capable hands that will keep up the number of intakes in the school.

    “Government is making sure that the resources required for final accreditation is in place, you will definitely get response from the government,” he assured.

    Nnalue, who praised the students for their good conduct, disclosed to their delight that the college has reached an understanding with the Federal University of Technology (FUTO) Owerri to admit suitable graduates for degree programmes.

    Addressing the students, the Provost urged the students to use their time wisely and shun all forms of anti-social vices as the college does not tolerate such.

    Agu further implored them to always explore legitimate ways of expressing their feelings without recourse to violence and destruction of public property.

    Some of the students expressed happiness that they were lucky to be among the 300 students admitted out of more than 2,000 applicants.

     

    They also thanked the government for providing learning facilities and constructing the road that leads to the college but called its attention to the problem of inadequate power and water supply which makes learning difficult.

     

  • NGO seeks suspension of RSUST accreditation

    A Non-Governmental Organisation – Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has criticised the on-going accreditation tour of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Nkpolu by officials of Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC).

    A statement issued in Port Harcourt, by Livingstone Wechie, the CLO Director, Research and Publicity, Rivers State branch, called for the discontinuation of the tour immediately pending the resolution of the on-going strike by lecturers of RSUST.

    Since July last year, some members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the re-appointment of Prof Barineme B.Fakae as Vice Chancellor (VC) by the state government.

    They alleged that the VC’s re-instatement did not follow due process, and insisted that he be removed.

    Wechie said the move by NUC to accredit courses of an institution that is neck-deep in crisis suggests their supports for the on-going problems in the school.

    He said, “We are accusing NUC of complicity in the crisis in Rivers State University of Science & Technology Port Harcourt.

    “NUC is aware of the crisis rocking RSUST and yet it went ahead to begin a process to accredit courses and programmes of the university, whose Lecturers are on strike.

    “the Minister of Education Prof. Rukayyatu Rufai had in a statement this year said that until the Law is followed and the questions and concerns raised in the appointment of the VC resolved, NUC will not accredit the courses in that institution.” he recalled

     

  • Nigerian-owned UK College gets accreditation

    Peacock College, United Kingdom has received the International Student Association accreditation to deliver professional and academic degrees and postgraduate programmes.

    The UK-based college, which was started by a Nigerian, Chief Segun Phillips, in 2012, has also been approved as a candidate for accreditation by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education.

    Consequently, the institution is now qualified to offer certificate, diploma and degree programmes in its main campus in London.

    The college Principal, Mr Zenon Adamek, a Briton, in an online statement, said the feat was as a result of the institution’s hard work and willingness for development.

    “The college team is drawing upon the experience and expertise of academics, professionals working in the pertinent industries and colleagues with wealth of practice and knowledge to deliver professional academic programmes in Business Management, Health and Social Care, Hospitality Travel and Tours and Information Technology,” he stated.

    He added that these programmes would be delivered as certificate, diploma and extended diploma all at level 4 to 7 of UK National Occupation Standards.

    Level 4 to 7 certificate of the UK NOS is an equivalent of first and second degrees in Nigeria. The implication of ISA accreditation, Phillips said, was that the college could now award first degrees and professional degrees at postgraduate level.

    On the importance of the ISA accreditation, Adamek stated that ISA qualifications, which are accepted in UK universities, would give a pathway to students to progress to Master’s degree programmes in British institutions.

    He added that the college was set up to enable students to gain new knowledge and skills that are crucial to professional and academic success.

    “Peacock College, UK will start delivering these programmes from March, this year from our campus in UK but plans are underway to have centres in Nigeria or to start online delivery for those who cannot travel to the UK,” he stated.

    Asked whether the college has sought the approval of the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the programmes in the country, Phillips said that would not be a problem since both the ISA and BAC accreditation enjoy global acceptability.

    “But as a responsible institution, I’m sure that if we have been able to pass the strict accreditation guidelines in the UK, doing so here, I believe, should not be a problem,” Phillips said.

     

  • ‘No accreditation no exam’

    ‘No accreditation no exam’

    THE University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) is at it again. Weeks after it was reopened following a three-month closure, it has been hit by another crisis. The school was to begin the second semester examination last Monday when trouble started. Engineering students disrupted the exercise as they insisted on the accreditation of their course for the school to know peace.

    The protesters stormed the mini campus, blocking the main entrance. They barred students who were going for exam. Others already in the exam halls were sent out by the demonstrators, who tore their answer booklets.

    It was the second time the students would be disrupting the degree exam. Last November, the aggrieved students went on the rampage, destroying properties. They also destroyed the portrait of the Vice-Chancellor.

    In solidarity with the protesters, officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) were on the campus. Addressing the students, NANS president, Yinka Gbadebo, said the association would not rest until the management got courses accreditated by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

    There were reports of arrest of some students by security operatives, who stormed the campus to disperse the protesters. No university official was available to address the demonstrators, who were chanting “no accreditation, no exam”.

    Ikechukwu Johnson, 400-Level Mechanical Engineering, who was reportedly arrested by security operatives, said he was flogged by armed policemen. He said: “I was beaten mercilessly by the police. They arrested many of us, who were protesting against the non-accreditation of our courses. After we were flogged, they asked us to move into their Black Maria. They were ready to take us to their station when the Commissioner of Police ordered that we should be released.”

    The institution has been seeking accreditation for all Engineering, Medicine, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine courses. Last May, some students took their case to the Federal Ministry of Education. Education Minister Prof Ruq’uayyat Rufa’i told them that the crisis would be resolved.

    Prof Rufa’i was said to have given the management a six-month deadline to get the programmes accredited by November. The institution was only able to get interim accreditation for programmes in three of the faculties.

    The four faculties were established seven years ago without inadequate teaching facilities. The Engineering faculty has four departments, comprising Mechanical, Civil, Chemical and Electrical and Electronics.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that when the school resumed on February 4, the management did not open hostels.

    The exam, initially slated for February 11, was postponed by one week. The Vice Chancellor, Prof Sunday Adelabu, who addressed students, last week, said the postponement was necessary to allow students settle down and prepare for the exam.

    On February 6, the management opened the hostel for only final year students. A student, who identified himself as John Prince, said he came from Lagos and lodged in a hotel because he could not stay in the hostel.

    Prof Adelabu said presidents of different departmental associations pleaded with him to extend when the exam will start.

    But CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the departmental presidents met with Engineering students last Sunday, pleading with them to allow the exam begin without hitches. Our correspondent learnt that the Engineering students stood their ground, saying “no accreditation no exam”.

    The aggrieved students complained that since 2005 when the faculty was established, no student had either graduated or gone for National Youth Service. The Engineering faculty has two graduated sets but none of the graduates has been mobilised for Youth Service. There is also a complaint that the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is yet to accredit the four engineering programmes.

    To facilitate a successful accreditation, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, Prof Rufa’i gave N4 billion grant to the university to upgrade its facilities before the NUC team’s visit. One of the protesters said: “We kept ourselves abreast of the movement of the money from the ministry to the school bank account. We thought the money would be used judiciously but here we are; nothing has been done to upgrade any facility in the Faculty of Engineering.”

    NANS president Yinka, a student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, he would meet with the management to ascertain the situation of things. He promised that he would obtain the accreditation document from the Vice-Chancellor to show the students.

    During the protest, there was fire in Red Bricks, a Hall of Residence on the mini campus. A room in the hostel was razed before men of the Fire Service arrived to put out the fire. Aondo Akura, a final year student, said he saw smoke coming out from the block and immediately alerted residents.

    The university’s Public Relations Officers (PRO), Mr Garba Waziri, could not be reached for comment.

     

  • U.S. varsity seeks FG’s intervention on accreditation

    U.S. varsity seeks FG’s intervention on accreditation

    The American Heritage University of Southern California in the United States had called on the Federal Government to prevail on the National Universities Commission to grant approval to the institution to establish a campus in Nigeria.

    The Promoter of the university, Prof. Tony Ogiamien, made the call at a meeting with the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, in Abuja.

    Ogiamien said the university was ready to extend its cross-border education programme to Nigeria.

    He said the NUC invited a team from the university to Nigeria and they held a successful interaction in December 2011.

    This, he said, followed a letter of intent for the establishment of a campus in Nigeria.

    Ogiamien, however, told the minister that since then no response had been received from the NUC.

    “In 2010, the university’s management on policy and programme took a decision that cross-border education project should be extended to Africa.

    “It was in the light of that decision that the university wrote a letter of intent to the NUC, requesting the establishment of its campus in Nigeria in July 2011.

    “In turn, the NUC invited us to Nigeria in November 2011 for interaction that ended successfully.

    “Since then we have never gotten response from the NUC till date.

    “If granted licence to operate in Nigeria the university would help to increase educational opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youths and also create job opportunities as part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda, “the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Prof. Ogiamien as saying at the forum.

    The minister, in his remarks, said that establishing more universities would be in the interest of the Federal Government.

    He said this was in line with the Federal Government’s desire to create access for university education.

     

  • A medical school’s long road to accreditation

    A medical school’s long road to accreditation

    IT was long in coming; taking all of nine years. When the news broke of the accreditation of the College of Health of Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, many students could not believe it. Their attitude was that of “we have heard that before”.

    On several occasions, their hopes have been raised and dashed over the college’s accreditation. The long wait ended last November 15, following the visit of the accreditation team of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to the university’s teaching hospital.

    Before accreditation, the students, many of whom have spent not less than seven years in the college, had protested to draw attention to their plight. The MDCN team visited the hospital in June and was not impressed with what it saw. It gave the management six-months to meet certain requirements, failing which the college may be banned.

    In February, students besieged the Benue State Government House, demanding to see Governor Gabriel Suswam, but they met his Deputy Chief Steve Lawani

    After waiting for eight months, the students again demonstrated against what they dubbed the management’s inability to secure accreditation for the college. The protest led to the closure of the college for about six weeks. During the period, the accreditation team came to access the college’s facilities.

    After the initial disbelief which greeted news of the accreditation, the students took to the Facebook to celebrate.

    President of the Benue State University Medical Students Association (BESUMSA) Kawen Pededo, 400-Level Medicine, wrote on his page: “It means we now have something that will take us up to graduation.”

    Speaker of the association’s parliament Andrew Iorkyaan, also in 400-Level, said he got the news from a friend but did not believe it. He said he did not envisage the accreditation coming the way it did, pointing out that the greatest pain he suffered during the “years of stagnation” was the time and opportunities he lost.

    Stephen Tornyor, a 400-Level student, who has spent seven years in school, said he has been part of the struggle for accreditation since 2006 and was shocked when the news came in. He said his worst moment during the “stagnation” was when people made derisive remarks about his future.

    He said he was now preparing for the lecture halls and hospital wards “because that is where I rightly belong.”

    Another 400-Level student, who claimed to have been in the university for eight years, Jeff Isah, thanked God for the accreditation. He thanked The Nation for its support during “our long years of struggle for accreditation.”

    The Public Relations Officer of the medical students’ association, Samuel-Nelson Atsehekaa, 300-Level Medicine, said he was elated by the news, adding that his morale was dampened whenever he thought about when he would graduate.

    Ferdinand Mbahon, 400-Level, praised Governor Suswam and the university authorities for the development. He said his most challenging moment “during the stagnation were the discouraging comments from friends that almost killed my zeal for studies along the line.”

    The college re-opened last Monday and students have since moved into their hostels. Addressing the students on Tuesday, the Provost, Professor, Shima Gyoh, blamed the delay of the accreditation on poor design of the teaching hospital and admission of students when the hospital was not ready.

    Prof Gyoh noted that he passed through medical school without accreditation problem, saying what happened would make the students to be sensitive to their environment. He “assured them that the hospital had full accreditation” promising that he and other staff were not going to make money from them by selling lecture notes or forcing them to buy books.

    The Dean of Preclinical, Prof Simeon Adebisi, read out the timetable to students, urging them to return to classes now that the collective struggle is over.

    At the time of filing this report, students were seen tidying up their rooms and getting ready for lectures which have since begun.

  • MOC YET TO RELEASE ATHLETES’ ACCREDITATION LIST

    MOC YET TO RELEASE ATHLETES’ ACCREDITATION LIST

    THE LOCAL Organising Committee (LOC) for the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos has assured stakeholders that the names of accredited athletes and officials would soon be made public.

    The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that less than 15 days to the Games, the Main Organising Committee (MOC) had yet to publish the list of participants. However, the MOC only concluded the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) on Sunday in Abuja, an innovation in the biennial competition.

    The meeting is where athletes and officials are entered for the Games and the ineligible ones have their names removed, to check mercenaries and two states entering one athlete.

    The Secretary of the Games Services and Secretariat, Deji Aladegbemi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the MOC had yet to release the list.

    “We are relying on the MOC for that all-important document. We have been working on assumptions in the provision of logistics and accommodation but believe that the document’s timely release will help us a lot in our planning,’’ he said.

    The Secretary said the LOC had made provision for athletes and officials based on their past experiences of the festival. He explained that the LOC would be responsible for the welfare of athletes, while state governments would cater for their officials.

    Meanwhile the Assistant Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee, Fred Edore, told NAN that more than 400 journalists had been accredited and that more were still being expected.

    Edore, Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), said that their accreditation cards would be released three days before the Games.

  • Hitches in Ondo poll accreditation

    …Hectic time for election observers, journalists

    The electoral officers expected to supervise conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State had a battle securing necessary accreditation on Friday.

    They were still stranded at the Independent Electoral Commission’s premises as at 2pm on Friday, battling tooth and nail for their accreditation and awaiting vehicles to be assigned them.

    So also were journalists who got stuck while processing their accreditation.

    The journalists numbering over 500 said the procedure put in place by INEC were needless roadblocks, meant more to frustrate than facilitate the accreditation.

    Meanwhile, less than 24 hours to the election, the Nigeria Police Force has disclosed that 11,000 police officers had been deployed to man various polling booths in the state.

    Also, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Zone II, Abubakar Muhammed, has disclosed that there will be 5,300 military personnel on ground for the exercise.

    Muhammed Indabawa, who is leading the police team, has assured that Saturday’s election will be free and fair.

    Ndabawa, who is the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, disclosed that one AIG and one DIG operations would equally be on hand to support the security network.

    He noted that as from 6pm all roads in Ondo State would be manned by heavily armed policemen.

    The Nation gathered that non-sensitive election materials had been distributed to various local government areas since Thursday, while the sensitive ones were deployed on Friday.

    The police had equally deployed six armoured personnel carriers and speedboats to the riverine areas for the election.

    The GOC, Muhammed, warned hunters and fishermen that they would not be allowed to carry out their activities on Saturday.

    He said that anyone caught with any weapon would be arrested and duly prosecuted.

     

     

     

  • ACN urges INEC to speak out on accreditation of partisan groups

    ACN urges INEC to speak out on accreditation of partisan groups

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to speak out on the decision by the commission’s Election Monitoring and Observation Unit to register glaringly-partisan groups as observers for Saturday’s election.

    In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said if INEC fails to speak out on the issue, it means it is not serious about organising a free, fair and credible poll on Saturday.

    It said the general perception is that at least two of the groups that have been accredited to monitor the election, Women Arise and Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), are partisan and should not have been accredited to observe the election.

    ACN reiterated its earlier statement that the fact that the President of Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, is the wife of Mr. Yinka Odumakin, who has publicly declared his support for one of the contestants in the election, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has raised the red flag over the group’s neutrality – a pre-requisite for any group observing an election.

    Also, the party said the fact that Femi Aduwo of the RMG is a known supporter of Governor Mimiko should automatically rule the group out of being accredited as an observer of the poll. It said to date, Aduwo is yet to deny being a supporter of Dr. Mimiko, or that his group has been inexplicably issued with 1,500 tags instead of the 100 given to other groups, with the alleged plan to give some of the tags to Labour Party (LP) thugs on Saturday.

    “The issues we have raised are key to the success or otherwise of the election, and none of the groups has faulted us. Women Arise, whose President has reacted to our statement, has only engaged in personal attacks than substance. The group has not told Nigerians how it can be expected to be neutral despite the marital links of its President to an acknowledged supporter of one of the contestants,” ACN said.

    It said apart from the virulent attacks mounted by Dr.

    Okei-Odumakin, it is obvious that Women Arise is not a respectable, neutral and an all-embracing group it has made itself to be.

    “No self-respecting women’s group will denigrate women, whether or not they are in purdah or eleha as the group said. No group that calls itself an independent organisation with a board made up of eminent Nigerians and thousands of members across the country will cast aspersion on the religion of many of its members. Or does Women Arise not represent the interest of Muslim women?

    “If it does, how can it so impugn on their religion and self-dignity by casting aspersion on them? Does Dr. Okei-Odumakin not realise that being in purdah does not mean a woman is not well educated or cannot hold her own anywhere? The truth is that unless and until high-stake issues like this come to the fore, one does not realise that some of those looming so large in the public space are not who they are made out to be.

    “Apart from its glaring partisanship, it is now clear that a group like Women Arise, which can so openly discriminate against some women on the basis of their religion or practices related to it, is not fit to observe an election in which such women will also be voters,” ACN said.