The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has warned tertiary institutions against presenting borrowed academic staff, equipment and other facilities during accreditation exercises.
Alausa gave the warning in Abuja while inaugurating the Ministerial Committee on Strengthening Accreditation and Quality Assurance Systems for Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
He also announced the release of the full Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, CATA, to academic staff in federal tertiary institutions.
The Federal Government says it is moving to address practices that undermine the quality and credibility of academic programmes in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa says institutions must demonstrate genuine and sustainable capacity before securing approval for academic programmes.
He says the government is determined to transform the country’s accreditation system from a periodic exercise into a continuous, digital and data-driven quality assurance mechanism capable of verifying the actual capacity of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa says the existing system must be strengthened to make it more transparent, efficient, evidence-based and difficult to manipulate.
According to him, institutions should no longer be allowed to create a temporary impression of their capacity merely to satisfy accreditation teams.
He says the government must also address the practice of temporarily moving academic and non-academic personnel to institutions for accreditation before returning them to their original institutions.
On staffing, Alausa called for a comprehensive digital identity management and staff verification framework that would enable regulators to establish the identity, presence and institutional affiliation of personnel presented by tertiary institutions.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has announced the release of the full Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance, CATA, to academic staff in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for the eight-month period from January to August 2026.
CATA is an allowance provided to academic staff to support the purchase of essential tools and materials required for teaching, research and other academic activities.
Alausa says the payment is in accordance with the provisions of the 2025 Federal Government–Academic Staff Union of Universities agreement and reaffirms the government’s commitment to its implementation.
The minister added that payment to non-academic staff is also being processed.
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(Editor: Ada Ononye)
