Nigeria Has over 9,000 Professors in Its Varsity System, Says NUC

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
In the midst of approximately 190 million Nigerians and with a youthful population of over 60 per cent, Nigeria only has about 9,000 professors in its university system, the National Universities Commission (NUC) stated yesterday.

Out of the stipulated number as recorded in the commissions database of professors, it was discovered that despite the alarmingly low number, there were duplication of names due to sabbaticals and other engagements, while some who had been sent abroad as professors were in the actual fact not professors.

The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, who disclosed this yesterday during the Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities retreat in Abuja, said the era of lecturers promoting themselves to the status of professors must stop as the NUC is committed to curbing the tide of fake professorship.

While lamenting the embarrassment that fake professors have caused the commission and the country after being discovered by foreign institutions who had accepted letters of recommendation from NUC, Rasheed said a compilation of the database would be reviewed on an annual basis and with the correct and updated figure made public.

He said: “Our record shows that there are over 9,000 professors in the Nigeria university system, and we have discovered that there are several duplications. You might see the same name in Bayero University as well as in Ahmadu Bello University.

“Some institutions abroad have called us to say that the professors we sent to them are actually not professors. To some extent, you will not blame such people. Sometimes, the students are responsible for this. By the time the lecturer stays for too long in the university, the students begin to call him professor. Within the first year, he feels uncomfortable but from the second year, he accepts the name and begins to address himself as professor and to the extent of been bold enough to write to us with claims that they are professors.

“A directorate of full professorship is very important. A list of all the professors in each university will be compiled, and every vice chancellor must attest to it. Vice chancellors must ensure that the right list is used for confirmation.”
He decried the abuse of convocation ceremonies‎ which he said have been turned into jamboree and mere pageantry especially when honorary degrees are being awarded. He called on vice chancellors to ensure discipline in their institutions, and must learn to do that which is globally accepted.

“Universities must take convocation ceremonies very seriously. It has been abused in Nigeria and this must be addressed. ‎It is not a time for giving gifts and reciting lengthy recitation. A recitation must not be more than five minutes. We must sit and reinvent on how it’s done in other climes. In terms of honorary awards, you must not allow recipients to come with too many people,” he advised.