Mixed reactions trail suspension of 4 programmes at UniAbuja

Mixed reactions on Wednesday trailed the suspension of four academic programmes at the University of Abuja, UniAbuja, by the Federal Ministry of Education.

A cross-section of Abuja residents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the suspension of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Engineering would lead to the displacement of many students.

Janet Gideon, a civil servant at the Federal Secretariat, blamed the university council for admitting students into unaccredited programmes.

“It is really bad for such learned administrators to have made such a terrible error, how could they have admitted students into the departments when they knew it is not accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

“Now innocents students are suffering the brunt of what could have been avoided.”

Chigozie Nwosu, a trader at Wuse Market whose son was affected, said that the officials responsible for “this grave mistake should be punished’’.

“Now my son is confused and does not know what to do,’’ he said.

“I don’t think issues relating to tertiary institutions should be joked with.”

He wondered why such an important matter could be neglected to the extent that students would get to 400 level before a decision was taken.

“Most of them [students] have gone very far in the programmes only to be told that their courses have been suspended.

“I want the government to look into this particular issue and ensure that it did not happen again.”

However, Grace Nwoko, a teacher, said the Federal Government decision was timely and would serve as a deterrent to other institutions running illegal courses.

Akinbode Agbaoye, the deputy executive secretary of NUC, said the suspension was the best thing for the government to do.

“If we don’t start curbing illegal programmes in our institutions we will end up producing amateur graduates with low-knowledge base.”

He called on journalists to be the eyes of the society and help in exposing illegal acts and institutions.

It will be recalled that the Minister of Education, Rufayyetu Rufa’i, had on Tuesday announced the suspension of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture at UniAbuja.

Mrs. Rufa’i said that the ministry had been inundated with complaints by students and their parents on the status of the programmes and that professionals were not involved in the decision to introduce them.