ICPC Shuts 62 Illegal Degree-Awarding Institutions, Fake NYSC Camp
THE Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has said it shut down 62 illegal degree-awarding institutions in the country.
The commission also said it closed down a fake NYSC Orientation Camp, all in its bid to tackle corruption in the education sector.
Its Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, who disclosed this at a youth dialogue on corruption in tertiary institutions, held in Abuja on Tuesday, October 18, adding that the dialogue was organised for members of Anti-corruption Vanguards from five tertiary institutions in the Federal Capital territory (FCT).
Owasanoye, who was represented by the Board member in charge of youth, Mrs. Hannatu Mohammed, stated that the Commission had since prosecuted the perpetrators, noting that corruption has debilitating effect on the quality of education of any nation, as no nation would develop beyond the level and quality of its education.
He said the Commission set up the anti-corruption vanguards in schools to push the fight against corruption in the education sector, particularly tertiary institutions, explaining that the vanguards provided students the needed opportunity to participate actively in the fight against corruption in their various institutions.
He stated: “The vanguards equip the student members with the capacity to develop zero tolerance for corruption and to inculcate attitudinal change among their fellow students.
“The vanguards also enable the students to assist the management of their various institutions to effectively reduce corruption in the education system.”
Owasanoye said apart from setting up of the vanguards, ICPC had conducted System Study and Review in the university system to identify operations that provided leeway for corruption to thrive, disclosing that the study discovered various infractions in the university system, such as bribery, gratification, sexual harassment and sexual inducement, examination malpractices, over invoicing and over-inflation of contract values, award of contracts to oneself and cronies, sale of substandard handouts to students, absenteeism, admission racketeering and certificate forgery.
He, however, stated that the Commission had since articulated its findings and recommended effective and workable solutions and forwarded it to the minister of Education for implementation.
In a keynote address, Vice Chancellor of Bingham University, Prof. Williams Barnabas, said Nigeria’s education system must be repositioned to contribute significantly to national development.
He called for proper scrutiny of students entering tertiary institutions to ensure that they have the right maturity and moral background and willing to develop life skills, instead of cutting corners.
Barnabas said corruption in tertiary institutions impact significantly on the availability and quality of educational goods and services and has consequences on access, quality and equity in education, adding that some of the corrupt practices by academic staff include shrinking hours spent in classroom teaching, using teaching time for private business and grades inflation, among others.
The university administrator lamented that parents also push students into corruption by buying grades or bribing lecturers for good grades for their children and wards.
“The use of teaching time for private business, failure of teachers to plan their lessons, poor methods of evaluation, aiding and abating examination malpractices and using wrong teaching methods are seen as corruption.
“Corruption erodes the core values of the educational process, thereby undermining and distorting human capital formation.
“It also weakens social cohesion by engendering distrust in interpersonal and intergroup relation.”
He said for Nigeria to get it right, “our tertiary institutions must stick to their mandate of teaching, research and community service.
“We should also promote the culture of transparency at all levels, education against corruption for all and set up anti-corruption committees that utilise strategies in the fight against corruption.”
On his part, ICPC’s Director of Public Enlightenment and Education, Mohammed Ashiru, said the overall objective of the dialogue was to ginger the youth to play the role expected of them in the fight against corruption.
This, he noted, would be done through brainstorming and enumerating the major problems corruption generate in the education sector, adding that to address the problem of corruption in the education sector, the ICPC had interfaced with key stakeholders in the sector and identified various restructures in the system.
“The partnership led to the involvement of students to hear their perspective on the problem of corruption in the tertiary institutions; hence the result to organise this dialogue.
“The sole purpose of the dialogue is giving youth the avenue to air their mind freely on the problem of corruption in tertiary institutions in Nigeria without fear or favour.
“Panel discussion from the five participating institutions will be on subjects, such as the achievements of Anti-Corruption Vanguards in the fight against corruption in tertiary institutions in Nigeria; challenges of sensitising fellow students against anti-social behaviour; how to manage sexual harassment in tertiary institutions; what they understand by vote-buying and how they will contribute towards eliminating vote buying in Nigeria’s electorate process and between preventive and punitive measures, which one fights corruption better, among others.”
