Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, Education Minister

By Damilola Oyedele            

The Special Visitation Panel set up for the University of Abuja by the Federal Government has recommended that unaccredited courses currently being run in the 24 year old institution be discontinued.

This is as it disclosed that institution has enjoyed a N35b income budget from its inception.

The Chairman of the 45 member panel, Mr. Theo Chike Osanakpo said this in Abuja yesterday while presenting the 300 paged report to the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai.

Some of the unaccredited programmes are medicine, veterinary medicine and engineering which were established in 2005 against the advice of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

If the recommendation is accepted and implemented, it would invalidate the certificates of many graduates of the institution, while some of the students currently studying at the school may have to seek transfer to other schools.

Osanakpo added that the panel observed that many of the facilities in the institution are unbefitting for any university as only six percent of the institution’s master plan has been achieved; the master plan ought to be fully attained by 2025.

“Having done an overhaul of the entire programmes in the institution, our findings and recommendations to government is that programmes that are not duly approved for the university should not be run by the university.

“Besides that, we also looked at governance and administration we x-rayed the administration starting from the first Vice- Chancellor Isa Mohammed through to the current Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adelabu and we also looked at governance by the respective governing councils from inception till date”, he said.

Although he did not give more details, the chairman said the panel has noticed a need for financial prudence in the university through a proper, pragmatic and practical accounting system to check unnecessary expenditure.