UNACCREDITED COURSES: NUC'S AXE DANGLES ON VARSITIES

Many students of universities across the country are gripped with fears over the fate of their studies as the National Universities Commission (NUC) begin a clampdown on their institutions over unaccredited courses.

While the NUC has already wielded the axe against some universities, more courses may lose accreditation when the regulatory authority begins a fresh round of visits to the institution by March.

Among the universities which have lost accreditation of courses are: Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), University of Benin, Igbinedion University, Madonna University, University of Abuja, Lead City University and Lagos State University (LASU).

Parents are worried. Students are panicky as hope of scheduled graduation gradually ebbs away in the face of the uncertainty that has pervaded how long it could take to resolve the crisis while authorities of the affected institutions are running around to find a way out.

The situation has led to a bout of recriminations between students and their school authorities on one hand and the NUC on the other hand. The students and the authorities are accusing the regulatory authority of high handedness. Amid the trading of blame, the NUC has absolved itself of any guilt in the crisis. Its spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Usman Yakassai, said in an interview with SUNDAY SUN that it was only students whose schools started their programmes without interim approval that would have lost everything.

According to him, there should have been no problem with universities if they follow NUC regulations, which require interim approval for a course, before they admit students.

By NUC regulations, if there is a problem with a course with an interim approval, the students will be allowed to finish their academic pursuit while the institution will be ordered to stop further admission to the course.

Yakassai said students who were admitted to courses without interim approval would have to hold the authorities of their universities responsible as the NUC, as a quality assurance body, could not be held responsible for their fate. The case of Ola (surname withheld), a medical student at LAUTECH typifies the dilemma of the students of the affected universities.

In 2004 when he accepted the letter of provisional admission from LAUTECH to read medicine, Ola had plans for his life well laid out. In his mind's eye, he saw himself becoming a full-fledged doctor by the turn of 2011. But seven years down the line, his plans have turned into a pipe dream. He is not even sure now how long it would take him to finish what ordinarily should have been a seven-year course; no thanks to the incessant crisis in the school and the lingering face-off between the two owner states: Oyo and Osun.

There has not been any meaningful academic programme in the school in about one year as the two owner states flex muscles over whether to go their separate ways or not.

To worsen the crisis, the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) have suspended the accreditation granted the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the university for its medical course.

The two bodies had hammered LAUTECH for bursting its quota for medical students just as it did Igbinedion University. According to investigation, the institution, which only got approval to train no more than 75 medical students, turned out over 170 graduates from the course. It was learnt that the institution exceeded is quota because it had to present two sets of medical students for their final examinations.

As things stand now, the fate of Ola, who is now in his 400 level, hangs in the balance, as nobody knows when the crisis in the school would be resolved. Many times, he has considered transferring his studentship to another university where he feels he can complete his course in good time; but he knows that will be hard as it is against convention for a medical student to transfer his studentship. The ownership crisis has stalled efforts to find a solution to the suspension of the accreditation of medical science in the institution as the governors of the two owner-states-Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo) and Mr. Rauf Aregbesola (Osun)-are not ready to shift positions on the ownership tussle.

While Oyo wants to take over the school because the main campus is located in Ogbomoso, its territory and Osun already owns a university (Osun State University), Osun is insisting that it will not allow its counterpart to appropriate LAUTECH, a common patrimony of the two states. There are many Olas in many campuses across the country; students who have been caught in the web of power play between authorities. Where owners of their institutions are not flexing muscles, their institutions are pitted against NUC over accreditation of courses.

Such is the fate of students of Lead City University, Ibadan, where some 5,000 students risk wasting their time studying law, nursing or engaging in any postgraduate studies if the NUC carries out its threat to axe these programmes, which it said were not accredited. Ditto for medical students at the upscale Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State; Madonna University, Okija, University of Abuja, Abuja and University of Benin, Benin-City. The NUC's axe is dangling over the medical course in these universities over perceived lapses. At the Lagos State University (LASU), of the 68 academic programmes it is running at the undergraduate level, 10 have been denied accreditation.

Thousands of students are set to have their dreams shattered and ambitions crushed in the face of the uncertainties that have beclouded their academic programmes. Those who had hoped to graduate in their early 20s soon discover to their chagrin that they cannot; not due to their intellectual incompetence, but they have been caught in the vortex of power play between two elephants.

Hard hit are law students and graduates of Lead City University as the NUC has declared the programme illegal and directed that no individuals or organizations should recognize the law degree issued to graduates from the university. The regulatory authority also ordered the institution to close down its law and postgraduate programmes within two weeks or risk the withdrawal of its licence. The university has graduated two sets of law graduates who have participated in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and there are some 600 students waiting to complete their law programme.

The NUC in a letter by its Deputy Executive Secretary, A. S. Agbaoye, to authorities of Lead University, said the commission, at its board meeting on January 20, directed that the school should close the following programmes which it declared as illegal: Law, Nursing and all postgraduate programmes.

Although there have been disagreement between Lead University and NUC over the status of the law and postgraduate programmes, the school authorities and other stakeholders were taken aback by the turn of events as fence-mending moves were being made before the NUC descended on the university, despite the fact that there is a case in court over the bid to deny the law programme accreditation.

Except for assurances to students and alumni that the dispute would be resolved amicably, the institution's Director of Corporate Affairs and Communication Dr. Ayobami Owolabi, is reluctant to speak to the press on the dispute, apparently not to aggravate tension between Lead University and the NUC.

At the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), pioneer medical students, who are now at 300 level, have been stuck in a class due to the refusal of the NUC and MDCN to accredit their course. The same fate has befallen their junior mates.

Authorities of other universities, including UNIABUJA, have stepped up efforts to remedy the lapses that are threatening the accreditation of their courses despite the fact that some, like the University of Benin Alumni Association, are attributing other extraneous factors to the NUC's clampdown.

Respite is on the way for LASU as its owner, the Lagos State Government, is shopping for N3.022 billion for accreditation of the courses. Already, Governor Babatunde Fashola has forwarded to the state House of Assembly a request that this year's Appropriation Bill be jacked up by N3.022 billion to ensure that the university is fully prepared by March when NUC officials are expected in LASU to accredit its courses.

A consultant psychiatrist at LAUTECH, Dr. Adeoye Oyewole, however, warned that the nation may be sitting on a keg of gunpowder if the crisis bedevilling such institutions is not quickly resolved. In his psychoanalysis of prolonged studentship that those attending the troubled universities could be subjected to, Oyewo said many of them could fall into depression and suffer its attendant medical consequences.

His words: 'Many of them could be susceptible to depression and a lot of people could have suicidal inclination. Though we are very lucky in Africa because of our culture, that does not mean we don't have suicidal cases. The idea is there; but somehow it is either you go to church or mosque.

'Apart from that, many of them could resort to the use of marijuana or hard drugs, especially for the men because the inability to achieve career goals could lead to other fears. Men may be faced with inability to marry as they had planned while some of the women may start nursing the idea that the delay in their studies could prolong their marriage plans and they could lose their partners. Others could be plagued by anxiety disorder about the future or they could become schizophrenic.'

Oyewole said anxiety disorder could manifest through frequent complaint of internal heat in the body and exaggerated feelings of sickness leading to increased visit to hospitals while others would turn to religion for succour, up to the point of being termed fanatics. He predicted an upsurge in crime rate as the arm of youths left with broken dreams may resort to robbery, kidnapping, thuggery, especially in this season of politics, and other forms of financial crime to let out their pent-up anger.

According to him, some of the female students could resort to prostituting, not only for pecuniary benefits, but to kill the boredom foisted on them by the crisis.