Niger State Sets Guidelines For Operation Of Private Tertiary Institutions
The Niger State Government has commenced plans aimed at strengthening the operation of private tertiary institutions in the state.
This was as it warned that defaulters of the new guidelines will be penalized, saying that institutions that meet the minimum requirements will be reopened soon.
The State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Prof Baba Aliyu, who announced this at a one day stakeholders meeting to review the guidelines for the establishment and operation of private tertiary institutions in the state, decried the lack of strong policies which often lead to challenges of accreditations for programmes in the institutions.
Aliyu said that government alone cannot provide the needed platform for the growing population thus, the need for the privately owned institutions to contribute their quota in the provision of accessible quality education in the state.
According to Aliyu; “The need to set standard guidelines become necessary to eliminate undue proliferation of private tertiary institutions in the state and eradicate quackery in the system”.
He further said that the new guidelines shall include adequate facilities, standard dimensions for (laboratories, libraries and ICT centers), lecture halls, number of courses commensurate with the number and qualifications of the lecturers before a provisional approval can be granted.
In his own remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Musa Abubakar Sadiq, said the new guidelines are the first in the history of the ministry and called for inputs from all stakeholders to enrich the proposed guidelines.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry, Mr. Ismaila Saba favu stated that the heads of tertiary institutions in Niger State in their separate goodwill messages, starting with the Vice Chancellor of IBB University Lapai, Prof Abu Kassim Adamu commended the efforts of the Ministry for streamlining the activities for tertiary institutions in the state through what he described as “the long overdue” new guidelines.
Similarly, the Provost of Niger State College of Education, Prof Yakubu Auna, said the new guidelines will help to stamp out fake institutions being paraded by the NUC, NUE, NBTC.
This was just as the Provost of Justice Fati Lami Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies, Dr. Alyu Bussa called on private institutions in the state to adhere strictly with the new guidelines to ensure they produce quality products from their institutions.
In his own comments, the Governing Council Chairman of the School of Health Technology Minna, Prof James Galadima applauded the ministry for the new innovations through the stakeholders meeting which he noted would further standardize the quality of healthcare workers in the state.
Speaking in the turn, the Chairman, Association of Private Tertiary Institutions in Niger State, Mall Alhassan Aliyu, who is also the Provost, Rolling School of Health Sciences, Minna, pledged the commitment of private institutions to abide by the new guidelines and assured of their readiness to report any illegal proliferation of schools of Health Technology in the state.
