Nigeria: Govt Moves to Strengthen Accreditation in Tertiary Institutions
The Federal Government on Wednesday inaugurated a ministerial committee on strengthening accreditation and quality assurance in tertiary institutions.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, warned tertiary institution heads against manipulating accreditation exercises.
He said officials who compromise standards could lose their jobs, while private institutions risk having their licences revoked.
He said institutions would no longer be allowed to temporarily borrow academic staff, equipment or facilities to meet accreditation requirements.
“An institution should not be able to prepare a temporary picture of itself simply for an accreditation visit,” Alausa said.
He directed the committee, chaired by former JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, to develop a digital, evidence-based accreditation system capable of continuously verifying staff, facilities and equipment.
The minister also announced that the federal government has released the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) for eight months, from January to August 2026, to academic staff in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa said the payment was in line with the 2025 Federal Government-Academic Staff Union of Universities (FGN/ASUU) agreement.
He added that payment to non-academic staff was being processed and should be available “hopefully, in the next few weeks.”
Meanwhile, the ministry announced that 16,000 Nigerians had been selected for the inaugural cohort of its free Digital Training Academy (DTA). The programme received 72,850 applications, with 19,699 meeting the qualifying benchmark.
The minister described the academy as “the next phase of President Tinubu”s commitment to building a highly skilled workforce capable of competing in the global digital economy.”
Onibanjo said, “This cohort of 16,000 is DTA”s first, not its last,” adding that it would provide the foundation for subsequent cohorts.
By Daily Trust.
