Despite evidence it approved illegal results, the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) said it has no plan of issuing the certificates for an illegal postrgaduate programme conducted by the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology (FCAHPT) Vom, Plateau State.
Reacting to PREMIUM TIMES’ exclusive reporting that detailed how the FCAHPT conducted the illegal academic programme and ATBU’s attempt to certify it, the university, in a statement by its spokesperson Zailani Bappa, said “it has never done that before and will not start now”.
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The university also said it was disappointed in this newspaper, noting Mr Bappa already told our reporter that the university has no intention to, and will not award illegal certificates to any student of its affiliated institutions.
It also accused this newspaper of “crossing the line of good journalism ethics to publish a story intended to bruise the good name of the university directly.”
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ATBU lied
However, contrary to its claims, evidence available to PREMIUM TIMES showed that ATBU attempted to issue statements of results for the illegal academic programme and there’s no evidence that it had communicated anything contrary to the Vom College.
For instance, the university approved the results of the over 80 students from the illegal programme from departmental level through the faculty, the school of postgraduate studies, and the university senate.
The university also set up a committee to regularise the students from the illegal academic programme to issue their statements of results.
Yet, it claimed there was never an attempt to issue the certificates.
Timeline of how ATBU approved illegal results
In 2020, FCAHPT admitted over 80 candidates illegally after it advertised the programme as an affiliation with ATBU.
Meanwhile, the National Universities Commission (NUC), which regulates all degree-awarding institutions and approves affiliations, rejected the postgraduate affiliation between the Vom College and ATBU.
ATBU’s Department of Animal Production, which was supposed to host the programme, only learned about the PGD programme after the students had completed one semester and were halfway into the second.
To help the students graduate, ATBU presented the college with some options, which it failed to meet.
First, the Academic Planning and Quality Assurance (AP&QA) committee recommended that the college transfer the students to ATBU and absorb them into the same programme at the university.
The university’s Director of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance, Garba Abubakar, a professor, confirmed the arrangement to PREMIUM TIMES.
However, this newspaper gathered that the students were never transferred to ATBU, and no academic staff of the department was involved in teaching and assessing them as recommended.
However, in May 2024, the Office of the Registrar wrote to the dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Ambrose Amba, a professor, directing him to compile the results of the PGD students from Vom for consideration by the Department of Animal Production.
The letter noted that the directive came from the then-acting vice-chancellor, Sani Kunya, a professor.
On 22 May 2024, the departmental board met to consider and approve the results as directed by the vice-chancellor. The university senate has also met and approved the results.
On 13 December, the university constituted a seven-man committee to work out modalities for regularising the PGD students from FCAHPT and issuing their statements of result.
According to an internal memo dated 13 December and obtained by this newspaper, the Dean Postgraduate School, Suleiman Abdul, a professor, was appointed head of the committee.
Despite these internal documents revealing the university’s plan to certify the illegal PGD, ATBU maintained it has no plans to issue illegal certificates.
“We therefore, want to assure our various stakeholders that ATBU will continue to stay firm in the pursuit of quality and legally acquired education and will not be deterred from its focus of attaining a world class university status for the benefit of the teeming youth of Nigeria and elsewhere who aspire to pass through it,” it said in a statement.
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