More universities react as NUC insists viral report unfounded

More universities have reacted to the viral report that claims that the National Universities Commission (NUC) uncovered more than 100 fake professors in Nigerian universities.

The authorities at Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, in separate statements, denied the list of ‘fake’ professors being circulated on social media in the country.

This is as NUC has distanced itself from the viral news, describing it as “fake, unfounded, untrue, and a figment of the imagination of the author(s).”

The regulatory body, in a statement on Monday and signed by its acting Executive Secretary, Chris Maiyaki, condemned the viral report, even as he accused those he described as unscrupulous persons of plotting to create panic and provoke outcries at both national and international levels.

The official had earlier on Sunday told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview that the agency would release its official rebuttal.

NUC’s Rebuttal

Mr Maiyaki said the agency had, in 2019, released the directory of full professors, and that this directory has since been updated. He queried the rationale for recycling a stale list four years later.

The statement reads in part: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission can confirm that it initiated in 2019, a laudable project, 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.”

Mr Maiyaki noted that all issues about the 2019 verification of full Professors in Nigerian Universities were concluded in the same year, adding that “the Commission had since entrenched a more reliable system of generating the list of full Professors in the NUS.”

According to the official, the commission is “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; which explains the continuous update.”

“The National Universities 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,” Mr Maiyaki said.

BUK, BU deny allegation

The Vice Chancellor of BUK, Sagir Abbas, in a statement on Tuesday, said the report was intended to dent the image of the university.

Mr Abbas said the report that the BUK has 20 fake professors exists only in the figment of the imagination of the authors of the fake news.

“The Management of Bayero University, Kano has noticed the circulation of a purported fake publication on social media on the discovery of some 100 fake Professors working in Nigerian universities.

“Without hesitation, we wish to unequivocally state that the alleged publication was malicious, doctored, and fallacious, capable of denting Bayero University’s hard-earned reputation.”

On its part, Babcock University said the viral list, “which was spuriously attributed to the National Universities Commission, is not only ill-motivated and utterly mischievous, it is outrightly condemnable.”

A statement signed by the university’s Director of Communication and Marketing, Joshua Suleiman, noted that the institution has a “reputation for due diligence and rigorous search for and recruitment of her academic staff.”

“Babcock University takes more than a keen interest in the quality of education offered to her students and she would do nothing to undermine their future by recruiting academics with fake professorsial credentials or any disputable certificates for that matter.

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“Babcock University is guided by strong values that will dissuade her from compromising on quality, integrity, responsibility, and honest service to God and humanity,” he said.

Mr Suleiman, who described the viral news as an evil-inclined publication, urged “our students, parents, and the public as a whole to disregard the publication.”