The Federal government has revealed plans to upgrade Nigeria’s tertiary education accreditation system, with the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, alerting institutions versus providing borrowed personnel, equipment and centers during accreditation workouts.
Alausa likewise alerted that officials of tertiary institutions discovered to be breaching admission and accreditation regulations could lose their jobs, while personal institutions that stop working to comply with recognized standards run the risk of having their operating licences withdrawn.
The minister made the remarks on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Conditioning Accreditation and Quality Assurance Systems for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
The development came as the Federal government revealed the complete release of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, CATA, for scholastic personnel in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for the duration in between January and August 2026
Speaking on the proposed accreditation reforms, Alausa said the Federal Government was working towards replacing the current regular accreditation model with a more constant, technology-driven and data-based quality assurance system.
He stated the brand-new method would make it harder for organizations to present a momentary or misleading image of their actual capability during accreditation visits.
According to the minister, accreditation groups need to be able to confirm the genuine and sustainable resources available to organizations rather than facilities and personnel temporarily assembled for assessment.
“An organization ought to not be able to prepare a short-lived photo of itself merely for an accreditation go to. Unfortunately, this is what persists in the majority of instances,” Alausa said.
He expressed issue over cases in which academic and non-academic workers were momentarily moved in between institutions or presented during accreditation workouts, only to go back to their original work environments afterwards.
The minister likewise condemned the alleged borrowing or temporary movement of lab equipment, workshop facilities, library resources and other infrastructure for the sole function of meeting accreditation requirements.
He said whatever is presented to an accreditation group need to reflect the actual resources consistently offered to trainees and personnel of the institution.
Alausa stated the Federal Government would release digital tools and technology to enhance the verification of institutional facilities, workers and equipment.
He explained that technologies such as geospatial mapping, geotagging and digital recognition might be used to develop the place, ownership and status of facilities and devices presented throughout accreditation.
According to him, vital devices ought to be digitally linked to a specific organization and physical area, with records showing relevant details about the centers.
On workers verification, the minister proposed the advancement of a comprehensive digital identity and personnel management system that would make it possible for regulators to validate the identity and institutional affiliation of staff members provided by tertiary institutions.
He stated the framework might draw on existing nationwide identity infrastructure and other federal government databases, based on appropriate data defense laws.
Alausa likewise called for partnership with the National Identity Management Commission, including that the National Recognition Number, Bank Verification Number and other safe innovations could help develop a reliable system for confirming personnel.
He said such a structure would make it much easier to find cases where an individual was improperly listed as a full-time team member by more than one organization.
The minister kept in mind that accreditation in Nigeria presently operates mainly as a workout conducted at periods of between three and five years.
Nevertheless, he said the federal government’s long-lasting goal was to make quality assurance a constant process rather than an activity organizations prepare for only when an accreditation go to is approaching.
According to him, tertiary organizations must be needed to keep prescribed requirements throughout the year.
A robust digital accreditation platform, he said, would allow regulators to keep and regularly confirm info relating to academic staff, infrastructure, laboratories, workshops and devices before physical assessments happen.
He added that physical check outs would remain important but ought to significantly serve to confirm already validated info.
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The proposed system, according to Alausa, would also help the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education and National Commission for Colleges of Education develop dependable records of organizations in time instead of depend generally on information collected during routine accreditation check outs.
The minister stated the Federal Ministry of Education had actually just recently held discussions involving the 3 significant tertiary education regulative companies and professional regulatory bodies to resolve locations of regulative overlap.
He included that the government was waiting for recommendations from the Attorney-General of the Federation on the next steps.
According to him, an unified digital platform including verified institutional information might improve coordination among regulators and minimize conflicts arising from distinctions in accreditation and expert requirements.
Alausa noted that a few of the accreditation tools currently in usage were established decades back and needed modernisation to meet contemporary realities.
He charged the freshly inaugurated committee to examine the accreditation procedures of the NUC, NBTE and NCCE and make useful recommendations for their enhancement.
The supreme goal, he stated, was to establish a system that is transparent, trustworthy, efficient, technology-driven and based on independently proven proof.
“Technology must enable us to move from statements to verification and from assumptions to evidence,” Alausa stated.
He added that the reforms were intended to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s tertiary education system and safeguard the interests of trainees.
On admissions, the minister said the Federal Government would magnify efforts to take on unlawful admissions and institutions surpassing their authorized bring capabilities.
Alausa said quotes of students admitted outside authorized regulatory treatments might run into numerous thousands.
He expressed concern that some institutions admitted much more trainees than they were authorized to accommodate, positioning additional pressure on lecturers, infrastructure and other resources needed to provide quality education.
The minister stated it was unacceptable for an organization approved to admit about 100 students to subsequently enrol as many as 1,000 students.
According to him, such practices might contribute to the production of graduates who are improperly prepared for the labour market.
Alausa said the Federal government would hold institutions and their authorities accountable for offenses of admission and accreditation guidelines.
“This Ministry of Education is not going to let this continue. Other presidents, other governments may have permitted this to continue, however we are not going to let this continue,” he said.
“You will lose your task if you do not act on time. Personal organizations will lose their licences.”
The minister’s caution comes amidst longstanding issues about admissions beyond approved carrying capacities, unaccredited programmes and enrolment conducted outside recognized regulative treatments.
On the other hand, Alausa announced that the Federal Government had totally launched the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance for scholastic personnel in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education from January to August 2026.
He stated the payment was made in line with the arrangements of the 2025 arrangement in between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
CATA is an allowance supplied to scholastic staff to support the purchase of products and tools required for mentor, research and other scholastic duties.
“The Office of the Minister of Education mores than happy to announce that the full CATA payment has now been released by the Federal Government from January to August 2026 to all universities, all polytechnics and colleges of education,” Alausa stated.
“All these organizations should have received notification to begin paying CATA to all academic staff.”
The minister added that the Federal Government was also making plans for the payment of allowances to non-academic staff.
He expressed optimism that the funds for the payment would be provided within the coming weeks.
According to Alausa, the payment shows the dedication of the Federal Government to enhancing the welfare of academic and non-academic staff in the nation’s tertiary organizations.
He added that the administration’s education reforms also include investments in tertiary organization facilities, along with interventions throughout standard and postgraduate education.