FG bans unauthorised courses in specialised universities

…Culprits include Universities of Agriculture, Technology, others

Friday Olokor, Abuja

The Federal Government has warned specialised universities in the country which have been running programmes that were “antithetical to their mandates” to stop such with immediate effect.

The government therefore directed that such universities should stick to their core mandates for which they were set up “and desist from running programmes which have no bearing to their names and foundation.”

While describing as unfortunate a situation were Universities of Agriculture offer programmes in Law and Management courses such as Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, among others, the government said it was an aberration for some institutions to change the nomenclature of some of their courses to read, for instance, Banking Engineering, and Accounting Technology.

Consequently, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board “to delete all such courses on its portal.”

All candidates desirous of sitting for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination, the Minister advised, “should not be hoodwinked into such programmes as they are illegal and are not provided for in JAMB brochure.”

A statement issued by the spokesperson of JAMB, obtained by THE PUNCH on Sunday in Abuja, said specialised Universities are those set up to pursue specific courses and programmes to generate manpower in particular sectors of the economy.

He said, “Some of these specialised institutions include Universities such as Universities of Agriculture, Universities of Technologies, Universities of Medicine, amongst others.

“The Federal government has observed that these institutions have derailed from their statutory responsibilities, thereby running programmes that are antithetical to their mandates. The government notes the unfortunate situation were Universities of Agriculture offer programmes in Law, Management courses such as Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, among others.

“As if that was not enough, some institutions change the nomenclature of some of the courses to read for instance Banking Engineering, Accounting Technology, among other names. This is an aberration and should be stopped with immediate effect.”