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Tag: Chris Maiyaki

  • Why we’ll continue to encourage more varsities – NUC chief

    Why we’ll continue to encourage more varsities – NUC chief

    Mr Chris Maiyaki, Acting Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) says the commission will continue to encourage the establishment of more universities notwithstanding the criticism.

    Maiyaki made the disclosure on Friday in his lecture at the 22nd convocation ceremony of the Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo.

    The NUC chief said this was necessary considering the country’s population and its low literacy level.

    He, however,  said that what the commission would not do was to compromise the quality of university education in the country.

    According to him, available statistics and studies shows that Nigeria needs more universities to harness and unlock its potential.

    “The commission, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, as a matter of deliberate policy, will encourage expansion of our universities and approve more,” he said.

    Maiyaki, therefore, called on Nigerian universities to prioritise and improve on the capacity building of  staff, as recent reports indicated a fallout in this aspect.

    He also decried the state of facilities in Nigerian universities, calling for good governance and management culture in the administration of university’s resources.

    To reposition the Nigeria’s university system, the NUC chief advocated restoration of normalcy to academic calendar by jettisoning unwarranted incessant industrial actions.

    “There is also a need for the review of our curriculum, application of ICT and massive expansion of facilities. Partnership and Internationalisation are necessary too to join the global landscape of university,” he said.

    Earlier, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, Vice-Chancelleor of the university, said 55 out of the 855 graduates, bagged first class honours in their various disciplines.

    Ezemonye, who recounted the success of the university in the last one year, said all the courses by the institution were fully accredited by the NUC and the relevant regulatory councils.

    The vice-chancellor noted that the institution was digitalised to enhance academic and administrative functions.

    In the last one year, Ezemonye said the school had secured increase in admission quota for various professional courses such as Medicine and Surgery, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Sciences as well as Nursing Sciences.

  • NUC denies releasing list of fake professors in Nigeria

    NUC denies releasing list of fake professors in Nigeria

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has dismissed reports of fake professors in Nigerian Universities.

    The commission said this in a statement by the commission’s Acting Executive Secretary, Chris Maiyaki in Abuja on Monday.

    He described the report  titled, “About 100 fake professors just uncovered in Nigerian universities – NUC’, as a figment of imagination of the author(s).

    Maiyaki also described the publications as ill-conceived and a ploy by unscrupulous persons to create in plausible a tone, disquiet, panic and provoking outcries at both the national and international levels.

    “The attention of the commission has been drawn to news items, circulating on the social media, some national dailies and television stations, to the effect that the Commission has just “discovered over 100 fake Professors in Nigerian Universities”.

    “The NUC wishes to deny these media reports categorically and unequivocally. They are fake, untrue and a figment of the imagination of the author(s).

    “All happening at an unsuitable time, when the nation is awaiting the outcome of the investigation into the fake certificate saga from universities in some neighbouring countries.

    “The Commission therefore finds this development as unfair to all stakeholders,’’ he said.

    Maiyaki explained that the fake news items had been circulating in two forms- as a link to a 2019 online news item and as a separate list of names of the alleged fake Professors in various Nigerian Universities, which he said was not the case.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission initiated in 2019 a laudable project.

    “This is with the intent of compiling and publishing a list of full Professors in the Nigerian Universities System (NUS) through the use of an online portal to collate the requisite data.

    “During the exercise, the NUC found anomalies, such as Associate Professors being listed as full Professors.

    “It is essential to also state clearly that the Commission as a responsible Federal Government Agency, does not engage in half-baked exercises capable of tarnishing the image of Nigeria and the NUS.

    “That was why the Commission deemed it necessary to share the collated data with the Nigerian Universities for the purpose of authentication by the competent authorities as to who qualifies to be a full professor,’’ he said.

    According to him, based on the verified data, the Commission then in a landmark accomplishment, first published the list of full Professors who participated in the exercise in 2019.

    He added that it was understood that this would be succeeded by a continuous process of updating the list of full Professors.

    “It is important to state at this point that all the issues pertaining to the 2019 verification of full Professors in Nigerian Universities were concluded in 2019.

    “Since then, the Commission has entrenched a more reliable system of generating the list of full Professors in the NUS.

    “The Commission is also conscious of the fact that some of the academics not captured in the 2019 exercise may now have matured and progressed to become full Professors.

    “This being the reason why it continuously updates the list of full Professors in the NUS,’’ he added.

    The acting executive secretary, however, questions the rationale behind recycling this stale 2019 news of an activity it initiated, conducted and laid to rest in the same year.

    “The purpose and objective of resurrecting in 2024 (more than four years later) this-no-longer-fresh news, is clearly intended to generate unnecessary controversy.

    “The Commission owes it a solemn duty to protect and guard the integrity of the many hardworking and committed academics in the NUS, who have earned national and international respect and recognition.

    “Therefore, the Commission has been saddled with the vital and strategic responsibility by its enabling laws, to uphold the sanctity of quality in all aspects of our University Education delivery.

    “The Commission wishes to use this medium to advise government officials at all levels, members of the NUS, the international community, and the public, to please disregard these items of fake and stale news,’’ he said.

  • Implementation of new varsity curriculum begins September – NUC

    Implementation of new varsity curriculum begins September – NUC

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) says the implementation of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) will begin by September 2023.

    The CCMAS document is expected to guide institutions in the design of curricula for their programmes while bringing necessary innovation into the content and delivery of their programmes towards achieving the overall goals of education and training in the country.

    Speaking at the Stakeholders’ Colloquium on CCMAS in Abuja on Wednesday, the Acting Executive Secretary of NUC,  Chris Maiyaki said the document would reposition Nigerian universities to be among the best rated in Africa.

    Maiyaki said that CCMAS would make up 70 per cent of the curriculum while the university decides what to include in the remaining 30 per cent.

    According to him, the implementation will help sharpen the future of education sector.

    ”The role and development of the CCMAS is to ensure commitment in advancing of our education and our great nation.

    ”NUC is primarily dedicated in ensuring quality and global competitiveness of Nigerian universities as well as the graduate we produce.

    ”The development of the CCMAS went through painstaking process by bringing experts from our universities comprising of professors, regulatory bodies, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and all stakeholders.

    “The CCMAS reflect global initiative that will equip graduates with knowledge and wherewithal that will advance the development of the nation,” he said.

    The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, encouraged universities to make optimal use of the 30 per cent university senate’s input.

    Mamman advised universities to ensure that learning outcomes,  skills as well as soft skills were acquired, irrespective of the core discipline.

    He said that the skills must be readily applicable to the environment of the university, the country in particular and the global community in general.

    ”There is no better place and time than now to develop a strategy that will guide tertiary institutions particularly universities in their mandate to provide appropriate manpower for the country.

    ”This is through using a curriculum and applying minimum standards that would guarantee we teach our students in such a way and manner that they would be highly skilled and employable to contribute to national development efforts.

    ”70 per cent of the total curriculum is captured in the CCMAS while 30 per cent of the curriculum has been ceded to universities Senates to build in the uniqueness of their various universities.

    ”This principle allows for a good deal of adaptation that suits not only local peculiarities of the universities but provides universities opportunities to carve a niche for themselves in areas of comparative advantage,” he said.

    The minister commended universities who had concluded their work on the 30 per cent component and submitted same for review.

    He also urged those who have not to endeavour to do so in the shortest possible time as the next academic session rolls in.

    He pledged the commitment of the Federal Government in ensuring that our education system remained nationally relevant and globally competitive.

    In a keynote address, Former Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Michael Faborode said the idea of the CCMAS was to promote diversification and differentiation in the system.

    This he said was to provide proper conceptual administrative guidelines and a harmonised legal framework for higher education.

    Faborode commended the over 70 per cent universities that had already complied with the uploading of their 30 per cent curriculum inputs into the CCMAS.

    He said this was the way to go so that universities could be globally relevant and competitive and as well provide the educational needs to the students so they could be employable after graduation.

    CCMAS was developed in 2018 following the review of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) –the curriculum guide for Nigerian universities, which had been in use since 2007.

    The CCMAS also expanded BMAS from 12 to 17 disciplines to reposition the system to reflect the realities of the 21st century.

    The 17 disciplines are Administration and Management, Agriculture, Allied Health Sciences, Architecture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Communication and Media Studies, Computing and Education.

    Others are Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sciences , Social Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.

  • We place premium on education in Delta – Oborevwori

    We place premium on education in Delta – Oborevwori

    Delta State Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, Monday, said the State Government has placed premium on education to keep students of the State on track and focused.

    Governor Oborevwori stated this when he received on courtesy visit officials of the National University Commission, NUC led by its Acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Chris Maiyaki in his office in Government House, Asaba.

    He thanked the NUC for approving the three new universities for the state, saying the establishment of the new universities was well justified hence the House of Assembly he presided over didn’t waste time in passing the bills.

    Governor Oborevwori, said: “When we received the bill for the three universities, we looked at the justifications for three universities and we found out that they had the staff and infrastructure.

    “They had subvention but the students were not there because the NCE programmes were no longer attractive to them.

    “Where we had about 900 staff in the then College of Education, Agbor, you cannot even find 1,000 students and what we provide there is enough to run a full-fledged university.

    “The money used in running the College is also the same thing to run Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma where I graduated from and they have over 15,000 students yet we can’t get even 1,000 at the College of Education, Agbor.

    “So we didn’t waste time to approve the bill. Moreover, that period we had over 25,000 Deltans that passed JAMB and were qualified for university education but the universities couldn’t admit more than 5,000.

    “So what happens to the remaining 20,000 students? They have to wait for another year again? And we said no its a very brilliant idea to upgrade three existing higher institutions into full-fledged universities and we had to pass the bills.

    “I must commend NUC for approving the three universities for Delta State. I want to assure you that as a government we will continue to provide whatever it takes to make the universities great.

    “Here in Delta State we take education very seriously, because you may acquire anything on this earth, it will go but education will remain with you till death.

    “Here in Delta we value education because by the time you train your children, they will not be involved in crime, they will be focused in life.

    “So education is another way of reducing crime and since I came in we have been in touch with them and all that is necessary in terms of staffing and infrastructure would be provided.

    “Delta is peaceful and everywhere is beautiful but if you see any road that is not good in Delta State just know that it is a federal road.

    “We are taking care of our state roads and even intervening in some federal roads like the over 147km Ughelli/ Asaba Road dualisation project which am very sure would be completed by next year”.

    Earlier in his remarks, the Acting Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr. Chris Maiyaki, commended Delta State Government for its contributions to sustainable educational development in the state and country.

    Maiyaki explained that the visit was coming at a time when the calls for the reinvention of higher education system was “getting louder and louder by the day”.

    He congratulated the Delta State Government for being very educational friendly government and for being the state with the highest number of state-owned universities in the country.

    “Your Excellency, we like to congratulate your government for being so educationally-friendly and the information we have is that the university we are visiting was founded when you were the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.

    “It was during your time that having appended your signature that we accepted and granted licences to the University of Delta, Agbor, the Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro and the Dennis Osadebay University, Anwai-Asaba,” he said.

    He said the NUC was vested by law with the vital and strategic responsibility of orderly development of university education, the general coordination and regulation of the sub-sector.

    He said the visit was crucial and pivotal because the result will enable the University admit students into the programmes visited.

    “We carry out that vital assignment through the monitoring of implementation of minimum standards, licence of private universities, conducting resource verification and accreditation of courses among others.

    “We are here to carry out resource verification of academic programmes at the University of Delta, Agbor, to ascertain the quality and the quantity of the physical facilities, the human resources, the ICT deployments, the learning resources in hard and soft copies and of course the atmosphere for learning.

    “This visit is crucial and very pivotal because the result emanating from this visit will enable the University admit students into the programmes we have visited.

    “We like to thank you for the sustainable funding and support that you have extended to this University and indeed all other institutions of higher learning in Delta.

    “Delta State is the only state that has four state universities in the country and this goes to show the importance that you attach to university education in Delta State.

    “Delta is blessed and endowed with material, human and natural resources and having four state universities underpins the premium that you attach to university education.

    “Your continued support to these universities would be a legacy to your government and a collective benefit to be shared for the posterity of Delta State.

    “We are here to conduct resource verification for Basic Medical Sciences and Medicine, Law, Education, Agricultral Economics and if you look at the profile of these programmes, they are very capital intensive.

    “We congratulate you and wish you resounding success as you embark on your programmes and policies that you collectively work to reposition Delta on the path of continuous progress,” Maiyaki stated.