The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu (FCVSN), on Friday, 11th October, 2025, charged the staff of the Commission to see Accreditation as a national assignment and selfless venture which cannot be adequately compensated for, urging them to maintain the ethos of integrity and objectivity as the 2025 NUC-wide exercise begins.
Professor Ribadu made the remark in his message to the NUC family at the accreditation briefing session organised by the Directorate of Accreditation to familiarise the staff with the new accreditation reporting instruments which is now a fully-digitised process and to also acquaint them with the Commission’s expectations while on and off-the field.
He reminded the staff that accreditation remained a formal evaluation process carried out by the NUC in conjunction with expert academia of professorial status to determine whether academic programmes run by universities meet the national education minimum standards and quality framework as prescribed in the Commission’s Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) or the soon to be phased out Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) documents.
The Executive Secretary emphasized that Accreditation remains the most critical way to ensure that Nigeria graduates remains globally competitive.
He further acknowledged the level of risks and threats to lives faced by staff in the course of this call to national duty which cannot be quantified monetarily, recalling the incident of last year where two staff of the Commission were kidnapped along Abuja-Kogi axis and even the loss of lives in the course of these assignments in the recent past.
He pledged to use his good office to continue to advocate for better package in terms of compensation, insisting however that nothing can repay for the services rendered.
He rather urged all to see the assignment as a sacrifice for the maintenance of quality service delivery in the university education sector.
On the expected ethical conduct, Professor Ribadu advised staff to execute this assignment with diligence, objectivity, humility and above all, to maintain a high level of integrity.
He lamented that some unethical conduct in the recent past had lowered the regard and honour the universities used to bestow on NUC, challenging all to work to ensure that this high regard for NUC is restored back through staff conducts as they embark on the assignment.
He used the forum to pledge that whatever that will ease the accreditation burden of the staff in terms of logistics was been looked into, with the bid to see how to pay for the exercise in good time and wished all journey mercies and success in the assignment.
In his welcome remarks, the Acting Director, Directorate of Accreditation (DA), Engr. Abraham Chundusu said the briefing was organised to sensitise the staff about the new innovation introduced through automation of the accreditation exercise to ensure a seamless process.
This, he said, had been achieved through the engagement of a consultant who developed the Accreditation Portal and who is ready to run the process for the staff subsequently.
He described the former method of Accreditation as analogue, cumbersome and outdated and enjoined staff to embrace the Accreditation Automated system as NUC gravitate towards full-digitisation.
The high point was the demonstration of the new NUC Accreditation Instrument Portal by the Consultants.
Giving more insight on Ethical Issues and Code of Conduct for the Accreditation, Deputy Director, Part-Time Accreditation of the Directorate of Accreditation, Mrs. Uchenna Opara, enumerated the expected guiding principles before, during and after accreditation to the staff, which hinges on integrity, good comportment, accountability and objectivity in the assignment.
During the interactive session, challenges and issues of concern observed, by staff during accreditation were raised and addressed, bordering on Professors engagement, especially those deemed to be medically unfit; Round tripping of particular Professors during the assignment; perceived promotion of academic staff to professors; unapproved programmes and discovery of top heavy teaching staff in some instances.
At the briefing meeting were: the NUC Ag. Directors of Ag, Director of Research, Innovations and Information Technology (DRIIT), Mr. Mohammed Lawal Farouk; Students, (DoS), Miss Rita Okonjo; Finance and Accounts (DFA), Mrs. Hauwa Amos; Establishment of Private Universities (DEPU), Barr. Samuel Adejoh; Human Resource, (DHR), Mrs. Vicoria Omorodion; Open, Distance and e-Learning (DODel), Dr. Funmilayo Morebise; Executive Secretary’s Office (DESO), Mr. Jubril Momoh; Inspection and Monitoring (DIM) Mrs Alishabatu Balogun.