Jelili Gbadamosi
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to end the practice of tertiary institutions temporarily borrowing staff, equipment and other facilities to meet accreditation requirements.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the proposed reforms on Wednesday while inaugurating a Ministerial Committee on Strengthening Accreditation and Quality Assurance Systems for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
Alausa said the government was working to transform accreditation from a periodic exercise into a continuous, digital and data-driven system that would provide regulators with a true picture of the capacity of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
He warned that institutions would no longer be allowed to create a temporary impression of their capacity simply because an accreditation team was visiting.
“An institution should not be able to prepare a temporary picture of itself simply for the purpose of an accreditation visit. Sadly, this is what persists in the majority of instances,” the minister said.
According to him, the government would tackle the temporary movement or borrowing of academic and non-academic personnel, laboratory equipment, workshop resources, library materials and other facilities solely for accreditation purposes.
Alausa said resources presented during accreditation must reflect the “actual and sustainable capacity” available to students.
To achieve this, he said technology would be deployed to verify institutional personnel, infrastructure and equipment through tools such as geospatial mapping, geotagging and digital identification.
He explained that critical equipment presented for accreditation should be digitally identifiable and linked to a specific institution and physical location, with records showing its status and other relevant details.
The minister also proposed a digital identity and staff verification system to establish the identity, presence and institutional affiliation of personnel presented by institutions.
He said the framework could leverage the National Identification Number, BVN infrastructure and other secure technologies, in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission and subject to data protection regulations.
The system, according to him, should be capable of detecting cases where an individual is presented as full-time staff by multiple institutions.
Alausa said the reforms were necessary because accreditation currently operates largely as an exercise conducted every three to five years, allowing institutions to prepare temporarily for inspection.
He said the government wanted to replace that model with continuous quality assurance, under which institutions would be expected to maintain prescribed standards throughout the year.
“A longer-term objective should be to move from accreditation as an event to accreditation as a continuous quality assurance process,” he said.
The proposed digital platform would enable regulators to continuously maintain and verify information on institutional staffing, laboratories, workshops, facilities and equipment before physical visits.
While physical accreditation visits would remain necessary, Alausa said they should increasingly be used to validate already verified data rather than begin the verification process from scratch.
He said the approach would also enable the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to develop reliable institutional histories instead of relying mainly on information obtained during periodic accreditation visits.
The minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education had recently met with the three major tertiary education regulatory bodies and professional regulatory organisations as part of efforts to strengthen the system.
He added that the ministry was awaiting advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation on the next steps.
Alausa also noted that the accreditation toolkits currently in use were developed decades ago, creating room for conflicts and inconsistencies.
“One way to do that will be to have a platform where everyone can go and see proof of data. It becomes standardised, and it will be easy and efficient,” he said.
Earlier, the Director of Polytechnic Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Amy Igwe, said the committee was expected to develop recommendations for a more transparent and credible accreditation system.
Igwe acknowledged that some institutions had previously moved or borrowed staff and resources temporarily for accreditation and expressed confidence that the proposed reforms would help eliminate the practice.
She urged committee members to commit their time and expertise to strengthening quality assurance in the tertiary education sector.
Alausa charged the committee to review the accreditation processes of the NUC, NBTE and NCCE and recommend practical measures for their modernisation.
He said the ultimate goal was to establish an accreditation system that was credible, transparent, technology-driven and based on independently verifiable evidence.
“Technology should enable us to move from declarations to verification and from assumptions to evidence,” the minister said.
