An education consultant, Prof. David Iornem, has said the National Universities Commission and other government agencies lack the capacity to develop the country’s tertiary education.
Iornem, a former senator, noted that the NUC, vested with the responsibility of seeking budget expansion to enable the universities to develop, instead engaged in antics that frustrated the institutions from getting the money.
The former lawmaker, who stated this at a briefing in Abuja on Monday, also called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the sector.
“The NUC has failed to live up to expectation. The NUC accreditation process has bad elements accused of selling the process and ignoring the lapses. It is time we opened up the accreditation of programmes to independent nongovernmental agencies as well to encourage competition and instil discipline among accrediting agencies. The NUC lacks capacity to deal decisively with the situation.”
Recommending the upgrading of infrastructure in the universities, he advocated a budget monitoring system to ensure that there was no misappropriation of monies allocated to the schools.
He also canvassed the running of the nation’s education as a business enterprise.
This, he said, was an elixir for ending the crisis in the sector.
BY ADELANI ADEPEGBA
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