Nigeria Has over 9,000 Professors in Its Varsity System, Says NUC

Stakeholders in the Nigeria’s food and beverage industry yesterday vowed to resist federal government’s 500 per cent increase in the tariffs paid by local distillers of beverages.

The stakeholders, which include the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN), Association of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employers of Nigeria ( AFBTEN), National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) etc , unanimously opposed the excise tariff hike in their separate submissions made before the Senate Committee on Finance, headed by Senator John Enoh.

The committee, in line with resolution of the Senate in May, organised a public hearing on Kuni Tyessi

In the midst of approximately 190 million Nigerians and with a youthful population of over 60 per cent, Nigeria only has about 9,000 professors in its university system, the National Universities Commission (NUC) stated yesterday.

Out of the stipulated number as recorded in the commissions database of professors, it was discovered that despite the alarmingly low number, there were duplication of names due to sabbaticals and other engagements, while some who had been sent abroad as professors were in the actual fact not professors.

The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, who disclosed this yesterday during the Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities retreat in Abuja, said the era of lecturers promoting themselves to the status of professors must stop as the NUC is committed to curbing the tide of fake professorship.

While lamenting the embarrassment that fake professors have caused the commission and the country after being discovered by foreign institutions who had accepted letters of recommendation from NUC, Rasheed said a compilation of the database would be reviewed on an annual basis and with the correct and updated figure made public.