By Ishola Adeleke and Okereke Udoakpuenyi, YeyeNews.com, September 30, 2021
A mixture of shock and surprise has greeted the new list of sub-standard universities to be released by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC). Though the latest list is yet to be made public, a source at the Commission’s head office in Abuja told this reporter that FUTO is among the latest designated sub-standard universities.
Sub-standard university is one that scores below 5 out of 9 points in NUC accreditation score index (NUC-ASI).According to an insider, among other things, the the major reason why NUC is downgrading FUTO’s status has to do with the school’s recent fraudulent professorial appointment extended to Mujahedeen Isa Pantami. “If a school awards professorship to an academically unsound and unqualified like that. it means questions must be asked about every other professor at the school, including the VC and every other non-academic staff”, the source explained.
The source said the prevailing sentiment within the NUC is that only a sub-par university will offer a dubious professorship to an individual that faked his academic records. “FUTO has become a production line for fake professorship. Mujahedeen Pantami is just one of its products, there are many more”, the source added.
Though the Registrar of the university recently gave a feeble and unconvincing defense for the appointment, a source at the presidency told YeyeNews.com that it was the presidency that directed the FUTO Vice Chancellor to appoint the minister as a professor even though they knew that he was short on qualifications. The source claimed that there was a letter written to the VC in March in which the presidency directed FUTO to “effect the appointment immediately.”
The source wondered why a university in the Southeast should be used to do that when there are so many incompetent university in the north that could have been used. The source also added that it was done so as to boost the profile of Mujahedeen Panami whose plan was to burnish his credentials and his standing in the circle of Islamic scientific scholars. The source further claimed the letter was written to FUTO to confer the professorship, Mujahedeen Pantami wrote his “acceptance letter” even before any official letter of appointment was issued. “Pantami’s acceptance letter was August 2, 2021 while Pantami was among seven Readers (Associate Professors) promoted to Professor by the Governing Council of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) at its 186th meeting held on Friday, August 20, 2021”, the source disclosed.
The students’ union president has however vowed to resist any attempt to designate FUTO as a sub-standard university. In a statement issued by the union, the president said that “the Minister is well qualified for the appointment by NUC rules and guidelines. Since JAMB has given all university the liberty to set their cutoff marks for admission, it is not proper for NUC to attempt to dictate to FUTO which criteria to use for appointing a professor. We will not accept any downgrade.”
However, some student union activists on campus expressed disagreement with the union president. “He does not speak for us, he only speaks for his stomach” one student activist said.
