The Federal Government has shutdown down sixty six illegal tertiary institutions across the country
Government has also directed all regulatory agencies in the public education sector to work with relevant security agencies to immediately crackdown hard on all illegal tertiary institutions.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu stated this while briefing newsmen in Abuja.
The continuous proliferation of illegal universities in country has become a source of concern to the government of the nation.
Some factors are said to be responsible for the recent upsurge in the number of illegal providers of degree-awarding institutions.
First is corruption by providing substandard institutions in return for the high fees they charge their Students. These illegal providers are mainly driven by greed to make quick money, without any desire to comply with the required prescribed regulations.
Other factors are the problems of insufficient access for the large pool of qualified candidates that sit for the yearly Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations organized by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
Another factor that makes the illegal Universities to thrive is that they have no set standard for entry requirements. Admission into such illegal outfits is available to anybody that can pay their fees.
According to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu the Federal Government is determined to confront the ugly trend as Government will not sit back to allow lawless conduct to overwhelm the sector.
Mallam Adamu explained that the essence briefing journalist about illegal institutions was to properly guide students as they move into another academic year when JAMB will be conducting qualifying examination into these institutions, stressing that students, parents and guardians should be properly guided so that they will not fall victim of illegal tertiary institutions.
The minister tasked all the regulatory agencies namely, The National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), to work with relevant security agencies to immediately crackdown hard on all illegal tertiary institutions within their jurisdictions.
He said Promoters of such institutions should immediately be apprehended and prosecuted.
While answering questions from journalist on the ongoing strike by ASUU, Mallam Adamu expressed optimism that the strike will be suspended this week
