The Federal Government has shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education operating nationwide in a fresh move to sanitise the tertiary education system.
The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), which carried out the clampdown, said the action followed a sustained crackdown on mushroom institutions issuing unrecognised certificates and undermining the sector’s integrity.
In its latest report of achievements sighted yesterday, the Commission disclosed that it had conducted personnel audits and financial monitoring in all the 21 federal Colleges of Education, while closing down the illegal operators that had been parading themselves as accredited institutions.
President Bola Tinubu had recently charged regulatory agencies—the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the NCCE—to intensify their efforts in weeding out what he described as “certificate millers” in the education system.
Speaking at the 14th convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja, the President, represented by the Director of University Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Rakiya Ilyasu, stressed that his administration would not allow the integrity of Nigeria’s academic system to be eroded.
“At this juncture, it has become imperative to reiterate that this administration remains committed to strengthening the integration of all agencies involved in the administration of education to enhance efficiency and quality,” Tinubu said.
He added that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), NUC, NBTE and NCCE are now working in alignment to ensure that issues of forgery and unrecognised institutions, whether within or outside the country, are decisively addressed.
The closure of the 22 illegal colleges is seen as a decisive step in the government’s broader reform agenda aimed at restoring public confidence in Nigeria’s education system.
