National Universities Commission (NUC) says online degrees are useless in Nigeria

On Thursday, the management of the National Universities Commission (NUC) has said that any degree obtained through online courses by Nigerians from any foreign tertiary institutions cannot be used to seek employment, operate any business in Nigeria or transact any legitimately business whatsoever with governments in Nigeria.

While making the clarification in Abuja, Ibrahim Usman Yakasai, the Director of Information and Public Relations of NUC in response to advertisement by some foreign universities who are allegedly admitting students from Nigeria. Yakasai therefore warned Nigerians against patronising online institutions that offer academic courses or part-time cross-boarder courses without physical contact with their students.

Explaining further, Yakasai said: The nation’s constitution has no backing or recognition for such degrees obtained online, insisting that students who look for cheap means of acquiring qualifications will not use such certificates in Nigeria. Nigeria will not recognise online degrees. Online degrees are not accepted in Nigeria at the moment, the Nigerian constitution does not give recognition to such degrees.

He also warned Nigerians to be wary of a university, Maryam Abacha American University located in Niger Republic about which, Yakasai revealed, the NUC has been inundated with enquiries from Nigerian students who have been offered admission by the institution. The concerned students, Yakasai disclosed were offered part-time admissions with a graduation time of four semesters for courses like Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science and Public Health among others.

Director of Information and Public Relations of NUC Ibrahim Usman Yakasai

On the contrary he stated that: In Nigeria the duration for a full time degree programme is not less than three years for direct entry and at least six years for part-time, while professional programmes in Science, Engineering and Health Sciences, including Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science and Public Health are not offered on part-time basis in Nigeria.

The university, according to him admits Nigerian students who do not have the basic requirements to gain admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions in addition to running courses such as Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science on part-time basis.

Some university undergraduates

We wish to restate that as the only quality assurance agency for universities in Nigeria, the NUC is maintaining its stand that degrees from Maryam Abacha University will not be accepted in Nigeria,” Yakasai noted.

The NUC Director of Information and Public Relations equally revealed that the Ghana National Accreditation Board (NAB) has banned 53 tertiary institutions in her country, some of which Nigerian students run to, due to lack of qualification.