The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, on Monday said some private universities were aiding academic corruption and decadence in the country.
Oloyede spoke in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a two-day summit on Nigerian private universities, themed, “Private University Education Delivery in Nigeria; Challenges and Opportunities,” organised by the National Universities Commission.
He said, “The government opened up the space a few years ago for private operators to come and complement government’s efforts at providing university education to Nigerians, but it seems like the aim is gradually being defeated.
“When you visit some private universities, you will be ashamed for Nigeria. From the structures, you will know that something is wrong. If you take a deeper look, you will discover more decadence and rot in their operations. Some of the proprietors choose to run the universities like a family business and it ought not to be so.”
In his remarks, the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the commission was currently processing about 303 new applications for the establishment of new private universities in the country.
“Also, 208 out of the 303 applications are already on Step 3 in the processing of their applications, while 63 applicants are in Step 6, having submitted their completed application forms and strategic documents and are awaiting the first verification visit,” Rasheed added.
Meanwhile, JAMB said it had suspended 49 Computer-Based Test centres for various irregularities in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
This is just as 649,922 candidates had yet to take their exams as of Monday, which was supposed to be the last day of the 2019 UTME.
The board, which disclosed this on Monday in a bulletin obtained from the office of the JAMB Registrar, noted that over 50 impersonators were also arrested by security operatives, some of who connived with the proprietors of the CBT centres to engage in malpractices.
Our correspondent gathered that the candidates who had yet to sit for their UTME due to technical issues were being sorted out by JAMB.
The breakdown of suspended centres shows that five centres were suspended in Abia State and another four in Anambra State for technical deficiencies and inadequate number of computers.
One CBT centre was suspended in Bayelsa, three in Borno, two in Cross River and one in Akwa-Ibom for inadequate preparations.
Ten centres were suspended in the Federal Capital Territory; one in Plateau State, two in Lagos,four in Edo State, six in Nasarawa State, two in Oyo State and one each in Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Benue, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti and Rivers states.
The board said, “A total of 1,886,238 UTME candidates are expected to take the examination nationwide and 1,236,316 candidates have so far taken their UTME. The board has also uncovered a group of professional examination writers who take the exams for prospective candidates for a fee.”
