FG Moves to Crush ‘Make-Believe’ Accreditation in Varsities and Polytechnics, Deploys NIN to Catch Hired Staff

The Federal Government has moved decisively to dismantle decades of deceptive practices in higher education quality assurance, warning universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education against staging “make-believe” accreditation exercises using rented teaching personnel, borrowed laboratory equipment, and leased library resources.

Addressing stakeholders during the inauguration of a specialized ministerial committee tasked with overhauling the national accreditation architecture, Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa stated that the current inspection model has too often degenerated into theatrical window-dressing. He observed that in the majority of cases, institutions scramble to manufacture an artificial impression of academic readiness solely to secure regulatory clearance, only to strip departments bare immediately after inspection panels depart.

Alausa lamented that the integrity of Nigerian higher education continues to be undermined by schools that temporarily reassign or hire visiting lecturers to pose as permanent faculty during regulatory rounds. To permanently close this loophole, the Federal Ministry of Education is collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and financial regulators to synchronize accreditation portals with the National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) databases. The biometric verification regime will enforce the principle of “one individual, one verifiable identity, and an accurately declared institutional affiliation,” making it impossible for academics to be fraudulently registered as full-time staff across multiple campuses at the same time.

The reforms also target the widespread practice of temporarily shuttling technical infrastructure across state lines to impress visiting evaluators. Under the new operational guidelines, all major laboratory apparatus, workshop equipment, engineering machinery, and reference materials submitted for programme clearance will be digitally cataloged and linked to exact geographic coordinates. Digital fingerprinting will ensure that every piece of learning equipment has an unalterable history confirming its permanent location and operational status on campus.

Arguing that educational standards cannot be guaranteed through periodic snapshot visits conducted every three to five years, Alausa declared that the government is fundamentally redefining the philosophy of accreditation. The administration aims to transition the sector into a continuous, real-time quality assurance framework. Under this approach, institutional compliance will be tracked 365 days a year through automated databanks, reducing physical campus inspections to targeted validation exercises.

The newly inaugurated committee has been charged with developing a unified digital platform to serve as an undisputed, single source of truth for all tertiary regulators—including the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

Echoing the minister’s position, the Director of Polytechnic Education at the ministry, Amy Igwe, noted that eliminating resource borrowing is critical to safeguarding the future of Nigerian students. Authorities emphasized that what an institution presents on paper must reflect the day-to-day classroom reality experienced by students, ensuring that academic programmes produce competent, employable graduates equipped with genuine technical expertise.