NUC dismisses report of fake professors in Nigeria’s varsities

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has dismissed reports of fake professors in the nation’s universities.

The commission was reacting to a report on the discovery of about 100 fake professors in Nigerian universities.

In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by its Acting Executive Secretary, Chris Maiyaki, NUC dismissed the report as a figment of the author’s imagination.

It also described the publications as ill-conceived and a ploy by unscrupulous persons to create in plausible a tone, disquiet, panic, and provoking outcries at both the national and international levels.

The statement read: “The attention of the commission has been drawn to news items, circulating on the social media, some national dailies and television stations, to the effect that the Commission has just “discovered over 100 fake Professors in Nigerian Universities.

“The NUC wishes to deny these media reports categorically and unequivocally. They are fake, untrue, and a figment of the imagination of the author(s).

“All happening at an unsuitable time, when the nation is awaiting the outcome of the investigation into the fake certificate saga from universities in some neighbouring countries.

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“The Commission therefore finds this development as unfair to all stakeholders.”

NUC stressed that the report had been circulating in two forms- as a link to a 2019 online news item and as a separate list of names of the alleged fake Professors in various universities across the country.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission initiated in 2019 a laudable project.

“This is with the intent of compiling and publishing a list of full Professors in the Nigerian Universities System (NUS) through the use of an online portal to collate the requisite data.

“During the exercise, the NUC found anomalies, such as Associate Professors being listed as full Professors.

“It is essential to also state clearly that the Commission as a responsible Federal Government Agency, does not engage in half-baked exercises capable of tarnishing the image of Nigeria and the NUS.

“That was why the Commission deemed it necessary to share the collated data with the Nigerian Universities for authentication by the competent authorities as to who qualifies to be a full professor,’’ it added.

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