From Left to Right: Alh. Shuaibu Idris, mni, FIoD, Chairman, IoDCCG; Mrs. Olamide Oyeniyi, Board Member; IoDCCG, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, mni, MFR, ES/CEO, NUC; Dr. Seye Awojobi, Board Member, IoDCCG; Dr. Momodu Omagbeme, Board Member, IoDCCG; Mr. Joseph Tsavsar, Chairman, IoD Nigeria Abuja Branch
The Chairman, IoD Centre for Corporate Governance, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, mni, FIoD on 23rd February, 2022 led Members of the Board of Governors and Management to a courtesy visit to the senior Management of Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) at its Head Quarters in Abuja. The NUC team that received the IoDCCG’s team was led by the Executive Secretary/CEO, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, mni, MFR.
After an introduction of NUC team by the ES/CEO, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, mni, MFR, and the IoDCCG team by the Board Chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, mni, the ES/CEO went ahead to inform the IoDCCG team that NUC is the Federal Agency that regulate all Universities in Nigeria for standards and conformity and also advise government on the establishment and good conduct of universities in Nigeria.
He mentioned that Nigeria at the moment has over 400 universities with an ongoing assessment of about 13 more universities for approval. He said that from a genuine perspective Nigeria requires more universities to cater for the teeming population in order to give more access to quality education to the citizens, he however regretted the argument in some quarter that the number of universities in Nigeria are too many. He stressed the point that the total number of universities cannot accommodate up to 5% of potential undergraduates in a medium-term analysis. He emphasised that NUC is working strenuously with other stakeholders to improve the quality of certification and reduce academic corruption, such as admission racketeering, sex for marks and other corrupt and unethical practices in Nigeria universities. To this end, the NUC has developed a code of Corporate Governance for private universities and currently working to unveil a code for public universities which will recognise some structural and cultural differences between the private and public universities.
The NUC boss informed IoDCCG team that the Commission has developed a blueprint on rapid revitalisation of universities in Nigeria from 2019 to 2023 and has made far reaching projections, wholistic and practical recommendations on the revitalisation of Nigerian universities to match international standards.
The Chairman IoDCCG, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, mni, FIoD in his response thanked the NUC ES/CEO and expressed his appreciation to the Executive Secretary and his team for hosting IoDCCG team. The Chairman stated that this goes further to demonstrate the Commission’s commitment to Corporate Governance, especially the unveiling of the Corporate Governance code for private universities. The Chairman gave a
background speech on the birth of IoDCCG by its parent organizations (IoD, SEC and CAC) haven realised the need to entrench good Corporate Governance practices in Nigeria. This need, he said led to IoDCCG we have today, an organization that has championed the Corporate Governance in Nigeria through robust services such as Trainings, Corporate Governance services, CG Audit, Board Induction and Evaluation and the latest being the Whistle Blower Services, all in a bid to entrench global best practices in corporate entities in Nigeria.
He hinted that the composition of IoDCCG Board cut across Institute of Directors (IoD) Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and that upon consultation, the Centre expanded the Board to have the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) and the Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
Among major important issues presented to the NUC ES/CEO and discussed at the meeting were;
- The forthcoming Maiden Edition of the National Corporate Governance Summit, hoping that the NUC will partner and support the initiative as well as deliver a paper at the summit.
- Request for conduct of Corporate Governance Services for the Governing Bodies of Nigerian Universities as well as Board Induction and Evaluation.
- Invitation to NUC as a Corporate Institutional Member of IoDCCG.
- Partnership with NUC on production of Corporate Governance Compendium
In his closing, he thanked the Executive Secretary/CEO acknowledged the gap in Corporate Governance implementation by the university Governing Bodies due largely on the composition, structure and representations at the Governing Councils but insisted that despite the challenges that the Commission will continue to advocate for good governance in the Nigerian universities. He congratulated the IoDCCG team for its untiring efforts at improving Corporate Governance practices in all institutions through our relentless advocacy and assured the IoDCCG team of NUC’s support and attendance at the National Corporate Governance Summit.
The visit was wrapped up with presentation of journals produced by IoDCCG as well as presentation of NUC’s blueprint and state of Nigerian universities education compendium published by Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed.
IoDCCG Management
