From Abuja.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the National Universities Commission (NUC) has identified approximately 70 illegal universities and about 125 illegal Colleges of Education operating in the country.
The Minister disclosed this on Thursday during the 47th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing in Abuja.
He said the illegal institutions, which he described as “Degree Mills” posed a great challenge to the Ministry’s effort to ensure unfettered access to university education.
“As I speak, the NUC has identified approximately 70 illegal universities in the country. We will not rest on our oars in cracking down on illegal universities in the country”, he said.
In the same vein, Adamu said the NUC also identified 125 illegal colleges of education, a figure which he described as alarming.
“The challenges of illegal Colleges of Education is as profound as that of illegal universities. We have also identified an alarming number of illegal Colleges of Education, totaling One Hundred and Twenty- Five, (125).
“The National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) has written their proprietors to shut down within a specific time frame, after which appropriate measures will be applied,” he said.
In the last publication of the NUC, regarding illegal varsities and study centres in 2021, the Commission listed 58 Illegal universities which it had closed down and a separate list of 8 institutions whose case were still under investigation on suspicions of being fake institutions.
