The Federal Government has begun moves to overhaul the accreditation system for tertiary institutions, with Education Minister, Dr Tunji Alausa, warning universities, polytechnics and colleges of education against presenting borrowed staff, equipment and facilities during accreditation exercises.
Alausa said the government was working to transform accreditation from a periodic exercise into a continuous, digital and data-driven quality assurance system capable of verifying the actual capacity of tertiary institutions.
The minister spoke on Wednesday during the inauguration of a Ministerial Committee on Strengthening Accreditation and Quality Assurance Systems for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
He said the existing system must become more transparent, efficient and evidence-based, stressing that institutions should no longer be allowed to create a temporary impression of their capacity simply to pass an accreditation exercise.
“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,” Alausa said.
He said the government would tackle the practice of temporarily moving or borrowing academic and non-academic personnel, laboratory equipment, workshop resources, library materials and other facilities solely for accreditation.
According to him, everything presented to an accreditation team must reflect the institution’s actual and sustainable capacity.
To strengthen verification, Alausa said the government planned to deploy technologies including geospatial mapping, geotagging and digital identification systems.
He said critical equipment presented during accreditation should be digitally identifiable and linked to a specific institution and physical location, with records showing its status and other relevant information where necessary.
The minister also called for a comprehensive digital system to verify the identity, presence and institutional affiliation of staff presented by tertiary institutions.
READ ALSO:FG Moves To End Fake Accreditation Practices In Nigerian Universities
He proposed collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission and the use of the National Identification Number, alongside BVN infrastructure and other secure technologies, to establish what he described as the principle of “one individual, one verifiable identity and an accurately declared institutional affiliation.”
The proposed system, he said, should be capable of detecting cases where an individual is improperly presented as full-time staff by multiple institutions.
Alausa said the reforms were necessary because the current accreditation model largely operates as a periodic exercise conducted every three to five years.
He said the government wanted to move towards a system where institutions were required to maintain prescribed standards throughout the year rather than make temporary preparations whenever an accreditation team was expected.
“A longer-term objective should be to move from accreditation as an event to accreditation as a continuous quality assurance process,” he said.
Under the proposed digital framework, regulators would continuously maintain and periodically verify data on institutional staffing, facilities, laboratories, workshops and equipment.
Alausa said physical accreditation visits would remain necessary but should increasingly be used to validate verified information rather than begin the verification process from scratch.
He said the approach would enable the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education and National Commission for Colleges of Education to develop reliable institutional histories instead of relying mainly on information gathered during periodic visits.
The minister also disclosed that the Ministry had recently convened a meeting involving the three major tertiary education regulatory bodies and professional regulatory organisations as part of efforts to improve coordination.
He said the government was awaiting advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation on the next steps.
Alausa said a central digital platform containing verified institutional information could serve as a “single source of truth” and help reduce conflicts among regulatory bodies.
“The accreditation toolkits that we have been using were developed decades ago. We see conflicts arising,” he said.
He added that a platform where regulators could access standardised and verifiable institutional data would make the accreditation process more efficient.
The minister stressed that the reforms were not about introducing technology for its own sake but about protecting the integrity of the tertiary education system and safeguarding students.
“Technology should enable us to move from declarations to verification and from assumptions to evidence,” he said.
Alausa charged the newly inaugurated committee to review the accreditation processes of the NUC, NBTE and NCCE and develop practical recommendations for modernising the system.
He said the ultimate goal was to establish an accreditation framework that was credible, transparent, technology-driven, efficient and based on independently verifiable evidence.
Earlier, the Director of Polytechnic Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Amy Igwe, said the committee would contribute to developing a more robust and credible accreditation system.
Igwe acknowledged concerns over institutions temporarily moving or borrowing resources and staff for accreditation exercises, saying the proposed reforms should help eliminate such practices.
She urged members of the committee to commit their time and expertise to strengthening the accreditation system and improving the quality of education available to Nigerian students.
The proposed reforms form part of wider efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen quality assurance in tertiary education and address concerns surrounding infrastructure, staffing, institutional capacity and academic standards.