Irked by the report of the federal government’s visitation panel to the University of Abuja as well as the bitter complaints of parents and students of the institution, the minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, has announced the indefinite suspension of four courses in the institution: medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering and agriculture, due to their non-accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The minister said that before the establishment of the capital intensive programmes, many factors would have been considered, notably physical structures,? learning resources and staff.?
He further disclosed that ‘consultations with the relevant professional bodies, like Council for the Regulation of Engineering In Nigeria (COREN), Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, and the Vetinary Medical Council of Nigeria were not done which had caused untold hardship to students as they had to read the courses with no graduation date in sight.
She said: “Iit is on record that the university continued offering these programmes against the NUC’s directive on their closure in view of their denied accreditation status which has also led to the non-granting of admissions into the programmes.”
The minister, who stressed that the federal government would not hesitate to use the big stick against the management and leadership of the institution, said due process must be followed, which had already started following the white paper submitted by the committee for proper action.
She directed that, henceforth, all new admissions into the programme be suspended while JAMB and NUC ‘should work out modalities for redistributing the students already admitted into the four programmes to other universities where these programmes have full accreditation’ or to absorbe them into related programmes which have been accredited.