By Sodiq Adelakun
The Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, has refuted claims that the Commission uncovered over 100 fake professors in Nigerian universities.
In a statement released on Monday, Maiyaki described the reports as false and unfair to all stakeholders.
He further stated that the NUC categorically denies the claims and considers them a figment of the author’s imagination.
Maiyaki also noted that the reports come at an inappropriate time when the nation is awaiting the outcome of investigations into fake certificates from universities in neighbouring countries.
He said, “The NUC wishes to deny these media reports categorically and unequivocally. They are fake, untrue and a figment of the imagination of the author(s), all happening at an unsuitable time, when the nation is awaiting the outcome of the investigation into the fake certificate saga from universities in some neighbouring countries.
“Specifically, the fake news items have been circulating in two forms – (i) as a link to a 2019 online news item; and (ii) as a separate list of names of the alleged fake Professors in various Nigerian Universities, which was not the case.
“We consider these unfounded publications as ill-conceived and a ploy by unscrupulous persons to create in plausible a tone, disquiet, panic and provoking outcries at both the national and international levels,” he said.
While noting that the Commission in 2019 initiated 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, he said, 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,” he said.
He however noted that based on the verified data, the Commission then in a landmark accomplishment, first published the list of full professors who participated in the exercise in 2019.
The NUC boss said that this would be succeeded by a continuous process of updating the list of full professors.
“It is important to state at this point that all the issues pertaining to the 2019 verification of full professors in Nigerian Universities were concluded in 2019.”
He said since then, the Commission had entrenched a more reliable system of generating the list of full professors in the NUS.
“The Commission is also 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; this being the reason why it continuously updates the list of full professors in the NUS,” he added.
Maiyaki has criticised the decision to revive old news from 2019, stating that it was done with the intention of creating unnecessary controversy at an inappropriate time.
He also pointed out that the news was accompanied by a false list of fake professors. The head of NUC urged government officials, members of NUS, the international community, and the public to ignore the fake and outdated news that was already resolved in 2019.