Adenuga Toheeb Ayoola
The Federal Government has warned tertiary institutions in the country against presenting borrowed staff, equipment and facilities during accreditation exercises.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the warning on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Strengthening Accreditation and Quality Assurance Systems for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
The minister stated that the government was seeking to transform accreditation from a periodic exercise into a digital and data-driven quality assurance system capable of verifying the actual capacity of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“An institution should not be able to prepare a temporary picture of itself simply for the purpose of an accreditation visit. Sadly, this is what persists in the majority of instances,” Alausa said.
Speaking on staffing , Alausa called for a comprehensive digital identity management and staff verification framework that would allow regulators to establish the identity, presence and institutional affiliation of personnel presented by tertiary institutions.
He said the system should leverage national identity infrastructure and interoperable government databases, subject to data protection laws.
The minister also proposed collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission to use the National Identification Number, and other secure technologies, to establish the principle of “one individual, one verifiable identity and an accurately declared institutional affiliation.”
According to the minister, a robust digital accreditation platform would allow regulators to continuously maintain and periodically verify information on institutional staffing, facilities, laboratories, workshops and equipment before physical accreditation visits.
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