Secretary-General of CVCNU Speaks on the Issue of Fake Professors in Nigerian Universities
Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, the Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice Chancellor of Nigerian Universities, finally speaks on the issue of fake professors in Nigerian Universities on Saturday in an interview with Temitope Adetunji. Following the allegation that trended online in the early week of January 2024 concerning fake professors operating in Nigerian Universities, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu revealed that the report was not a new report but a repost of a publication reaching a larger audience of which many are new to the story. The report was first published in 2019 after the former Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Peter Okebukola’s led team generated a database of all professors in Nigeria. The 2018 database contained names of people who are not professors. Hence, it was necessary that a publication should be made to expose those who falsely parade themselves as one.
The professor of Economic History and Development Studies disclosed that the committee of Vice Chancellors has been on her toes in dealing with erroneous claims which can devalue the quality of education in our country like this.
He said, ‘…we do peer reviews; if we find someone who has been exposed as a fake professor, we post it on our platform so that people can be aware. We do the same thing for students who have been expelled for cultism; we put them on a red list so that if they want to try going to another university, their identities can be recognised and they will be flagged.‘
Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, who also was the Vice Chancellor of Kwararafa University, Taraba (former), hinted that the use of technology is evident in strengthening the existing policies to safeguard the integrity of the varsities in the country as end-to-end authentication is carried out to ensure that credentials are crosschecked and validated, even with international collaboration.
He acknowledged that disclosure is the major challenge the committee faces in tackling the issue of fake professors. Vice Chancellors, not wanting to dent the image of their ivory towers, would not bring the information to the knowledge of the public that such mishaps exist in their universities. He pointed out that they try to deal with the issue internally and ensure these characters do not operate in their universities.
Leave a Reply