A circular to that effect was signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr Chris Mayaki and sent to all vice-chancellors.

The NUC in the circular noted that the directive was based on the directive of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

“As Vice-Chancellors of all Universities and Director/Chief Executive of Inter-University Centres are quite aware the 2023 General Elections have been scheduled to hold on Saturday, February 25, 2023, for the Presidential and National Assembly, and Saturday, March 11, 2023, for Gubernatorial and State Assembly, respectively.

“In view of the foregoing and concerns expressed on the security of staff, students and properties of our respective institutions, the Honourable Minister of Education, Mal. Adama Adamu has following extensive consultations with the relevant security agencies, directed that all Universities and Inter-University Centres be shut down and academic activities be suspended between February 22 and March 14, 2023.

“Consequently, Vice-Chancellors and chief executives of inter-university centres, are by this Circular requested to shut down their respective Institutions from Wednesday 22nd February 2023 to Tuesday 14th March 2023.

“Please, accept the renewed assurances of the Executive Secretary ‘s highest regard for your understanding and unwavering cooperation”, the letter from the NUC read.

The nine universities include the University of Ilorin; University of Jos, Plateau; University of Calabar; Bayero University Kano; University of Benin, Edo; University of Lagos; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and University of Ibadan.

The PUNCH reports that the National Universities Commission is the agency of the Federal Government in charge of accreditation of courses in Nigerian universities, and the commission is empowered by law to set minimum academic standards for universities and accredit their degree programmes.

This led to the preparation, with the use of experts, of the minimum academic standards for the 13 disciplines taught in Nigerian universities in 1989.

The disciplines are: Administration, Agriculture, Arts, Basic Medical Sciences, Education, Engineering and Technology, Environmental Sciences, Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sciences, Social Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.

The 159 courses were all granted full accreditation by the NUC in 2017; a document of the accreditation result of the schools from 1990-2021, which was obtained from the NUC, has revealed.

For instance, at the University of Ilorin, the Department of Information and Communication Sciences was accredited in 2017, with the accreditation set to expire in 2022, making it the only course whose accreditation is set to expire.

For the University of Ibadan, the NUC data revealed that only the accreditation for Pharmacy expires in 2022.

The accreditation of 20 courses at the University of Jos is set to expire; while 31 courses including Public Administration, French, German, History, Linguistics, Yoruba and Medical Rehabilitation will be affected at the Obafemi Awolowo University.

Others are University of Calabar (15); Bayero University Kano (14); University of Benin (27); University of Lagos (27); Ahmadu Bello University (23).

Efforts to get the Executive Secretary, NUC, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, on Monday proved abortive as calls and messages sent to him remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.

When asked if pre-accreditation and accreditation processes can commence despite the ongoing strike, the ASUU chairman of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Dr Gbolahan Bolarin, said, “Accreditation of courses cannot be done during strike. All activities are suspended.”

The PUNCH reports that pre-accreditation activities such as drawing up a list of academic programmes to be accredited; compilation of list of panel chairmen/members, time-tabling and budgeting and organising the accreditation coordination meeting for panel chairmen and members in a simulation workshop can occur.

In the resolution which was reached following the lingering controversy over the ownership of LAUTECH, the University’s College of Health Sciences in Osogbo was ceded to the Government of Osun State.

The reconciliation was said to have followed the extensive mediation by the National Universities Commission on the need to restore tranquillity and conducive learning environment in both institutions.

Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission Professor Abubakar Rasheed who made the announcement at a media briefing in Abuja, said both Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Oyo state signed a memorandum of Agreement after a high powered tripartite meeting held between the 8th and 12th of November in Lagos.

The NUC boss expressed optimism that the new arrangement would restore peace to LAUTECH.

The commission’s Executive Secretary, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, disclosed this in the NUC’s November bulletin.

According to Rasheed, he said the commission has also published the details of the fake professors on its website and also sent the names to the various universities for verification.

He said this at the 2019 retreat for Vice-Chancellors by the NUC Strategy Advisory Committee.

“The updated version of those documents will be published by December 2019 and professors in their respective universities uploaded their CV on the website which was used in the compilation of the directory. About 100 fake professors also uploaded their details but we detected them.

“This measure helped in identifying fake professors in the system. The fight against fake professors is a collective responsibility,” he said.

Rasheed informed the vice-chancellors of a recent meeting held with the Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, where the latter complained that some corps members’ degree certificates purportedly obtained from some prestigious universities were questionable.

He directed that VCs should check the excesses of their affiliated institutions, noting that universities must spearhead the fight against academic corruption which must be tackled by all stakeholders.

The bulletin, said that the committee published a directory of full professors in the Nigerian university system, statistical digest of the NUS 2017-2018; refinement and modernisation of instruments for accreditation of undergraduate, postgraduate, part-time, affiliate, open and distance learning programmes as well as the state of university education in Nigeria 2017- 2018.

Prof Rasheed also clarified that lecturers were not permitted to teach in more than two universities, while minimum teaching for eight hours should be enforced and the practice where lecturers move from three to four universities must stop.