Legal luminary and elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has warned the Federal Government to stop mass approval of licenses for new universities.
Babalola, who is the founder of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), said that approving establishment of universities without consideration for quality and infrastructure could adversely affect the country in future, if not stopped immediately.
The elder statesman gave the warning while speaking at the High Impact Research and Journal Advancement Workshop, organised by ABUAD, on Monday in Ado-Ekiti.
He said that during the era of Prof. Peter Okebukola, as the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the commission had a reputation for careful, meticulous and painstaking approval process, for the establishment of universities.
” Not only was the visitation and accreditation process rigorous, it was also impossible for anyone to obtain approval to commence degree programmes, especially in Medicine, Engineering and Law, especially in the first few years of establishing a university.
” But what do we have today? “Mass approval of mushroom and substandard universities, with some, lacking in even the basic learning facilities and infrastructure.
” As a result of this anything goes syndrome, approach to university licensing and accreditation, NUC’s ability to ensure quality control, and to stamp out substandard institutions, have been seriously compromised.
” We currently have over 270 universities in Nigeria, and proposals for the approval of another 200 new institutions are currently under consideration by the National Assembly”, he said.
According to Babalola, the focus now seems to be on quantity, not quality, licensing more universities, without adequate plans for monitoring their standards.
” The end result is a rapid decline, and rot of our educational system, and in the quality of our graduates.
“What we need is quality education, because poor education is worse than illiteracy,” the elder statesman said.