By Raphael Okhiria
The Management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo state, has described a recent report in a national newspaper credited to the National Universities Commission (NUC) alleging the existence of illegal satellite campuses being run in the name of the University and awarding certificates, as quite disturbing.
As a result of the allegation, the AAU management has called on the NUC to go all out to arrest and swiftly prosecute anyone found to be running such campuses.
It however applauded the reported NUC’s decision to “investigate the proprietors and recover illegal fees and charges on subscribers”.
This response, which is contained in a statement issued by the University’s Head of Corporate Communications and Protocol, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika, copies of which were made available to newsmen in Benin City, is coming on the heels of the University’s insistence that it does not run any satellite campus nor has it given anyone the permission to do so on its behalf, either directly or indirectly.
According to Aladenika, “The Senate has not approved any Satellite campus anywhere; it has not approved that any certificate be awarded in the name of the University to anyone emerging as “products” from such illegal campuses either. We have continued to emphasise this. We are glad that by reportedly using the tag “illegal” for such satellite campuses, the NUC is on the same page with us. Surely, anything the University has not approved is illegal, null and void.
“Ambrose Alli University is a frontline state University in Nigeria; it is a respected institution; it is more than forty years old, and has produced world class alumni, its current student population stands at more than 36,000. For an institution that towers so high to be “milling certificates” through illegal satellite campuses must be a strange phenomenon. We cannot, therefore, wait to see the outcome of the reported NUC “further investigations” on these reported “illegal satellite campuses.”
Expressing delight that the NUC has come out strong against institutions, both home and abroad, that are issuing fake certificates, Aladenika said he was satisfied that AAU was not listed among the “58 illegal degree-awarding universities in Nigeria” cited in the report.
He noted that with the gains the University has made of recent in research and innovation, it would only soar higher, re-emphasising that the University was anxious to see the NUC carry out its reported plan to further investigate the so-called “illegal campuses and their proprietors.“
While assuring alumni, parents, students and all stakeholders that the current Management of the University under the leadership of Prof Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin is more determined than ever before to take the institution to greater heights, Aladenika said: “AAU remains your University of choice, your institution of pride.”
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