A major controversy has begun over last Wednesday sudden announcement by the National University Commission (NUC), suspending the operating licences of seven private universities in the country.

Investigations by Saturday Tribune indicated that the action, which elicited spontaneous outrage among some stakeholders in the education sector, had drawn a battle line between authorities of the affected universities and the commission.

It was gathered that the varsities had vowed to defy the directive because only last year, NUC expressly accredited all their courses and allegedly failed to follow due process in taking what they called a baseless action.

The sources claimed that some authorities in the commission had a hidden agenda for embarking on the controversial action as there was no form of correspondence with the universities on the matter before it welded the sledge hammer.

Another source added that the commission had not communicated the decision to the universities as of Friday, stressing that the affected

institutions had resolved to carry on with their normal activities.

One of the implications of the NUC action is that the affected universities might not admit students for the 2012/2013 academic session.

Reacting to the development, Dr Tunde Olabiyisi, the president, Alumni Association, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, admitted that though NUC had the mandate to regulate the academic activities of every university in the country in terms of quality control, to its decision on the affected universities came at an odd time.

On his part, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose of the Educational Advancement Centre, Ibadan, suggested the establishment of more regulatory and accreditation bodies for universities in the country, noting that there were more than one regulatory and accreditation bodies in the United States of America (USA) and other advanced countries with similar functions.

The Vice Chancellor, Lead City University, Ibadan, one of the affected universities, Professor Olufemi Onabajo, expressed dissatisfaction over how NUC had been managing the nation’s university system in the last few years.

Dr Bode Ayorinde the Pro-Chancellor, Achievers’ University, alleged that the NUC had a hidden agenda for the latest action.

According to him, last year, NUC officials came to accredit the courses under the university’s programmes and were duly accredited.

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