On Monday, the National Universities Commission refuted reports that it had discovered 100 fake professors at various universities in the nation.
A number of universities were included in a list by certain media organisations of the institutions the NUC has charged with employing fake professors.
However, the NUC claimed in a statement issued on Monday that although it started a verification procedure for academics at Nigerian institutions in 2019, it never published a list of fake professors in 2024.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission can confirm that it initiated in 2019 a laudable project, with the intent of compiling and publishing a list of full Professors in the Nigerian Universities System through the use of an online portal to collate the requisite data. During the exercise, the NUC found anomalies, such as Associate Professors being listed as full Professors.
“It is essential to also state clearly that the Commission as a responsible Federal Government Agency, does not engage in half-baked exercises capable of tarnishing the image of Nigeria and the NUC.
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“That was why the Commission deemed it necessary to share the collated data with the Nigerian Universities for authentication by the competent authorities as to who qualifies to be a full professor”, the regulatory agency said in the statement.
Reports of purportedly fraudulent professors have taken over the media, prompting Nigerians to query the credentials of academics at their country’s tertiary institutions.
Several of the universities mentioned as allegedly employing fraudulent professors, including Covenant University, Babcock University, University of Ibadan, and University of Ilorin, have responded and requested calm so far.