By Rauf Oyewole
The Bauchi State House of Assembly has said that the proliferation of colleges of education in the State is becoming worrisome with only few being accredited.
During the plenary on Tuesday,Hon. Babayo Muhammad representing Hardawa Constituency moved a motion calling on the State Government to regulate the incessant proliferation of illegal private NCE awarding institutions in Bauchi State, to provide quality education to the people of the State.
Babayo explained that the proliferation of NCE awarding institutions in Bauchi State was getting out of hand, saying that there are 62 NCE awarding institutions in the State. Four are public institutions owned by the State Government while 58 are private institutions established by businessmen as profit making ventures. Out of the 58, only 13 are duly registered with the NCCE.
According to the member, establishment of some of these institutions is illegal because no permission is sought from the government or relevant regulatory bodies in the country and standards are disregarded in open deviance and candidates who seek admission in these institutions are exploited because of their ignorance.
Babayo argued that some of these institutions were using government structures, operating under trees or uncompleted structures, not enough personnel, auditorium, lecture theatres, hostels, libraries etc, saying “this is a mockery of the entire education system.”
“Mr Speaker, sir, honourable colleagues, the continuous existence of illegal higher institutions in Bauchi State will have a long time effect on the state’s economy and development. Their existence is a serious problem because of non-compliance to rules and regulations governing establishment of higher institutions of learning in this country.
“They operate below standard and their operations are not clandestine. To allow them to continue existing is like allowing a time bomb, when it explodes, it will cause a serious devastating effect to the State,” he said.
He urged that the government through ministry of education be mandated to liaise with National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to come out clearly to stop the unauthorised higher institutions from existing in Bauchi State and the Government should ban all illegal private higher institutions from using it’s structures across the State.
Babayo also suggested that the Government should blacklist all illegal higher institutions and the general public should be informed about the no recognisable certificates they award, create serious awareness campaigns to dissuade candidates who are ignorantly applying to such higher institutions for training.
Meanwhile, the Speaker, Hon Abubakar Suleiman said that the motion was important and deserved the support of the House so as to sanitise education in the State. He added that the sponsor of the motion being the Chairman of the House Committee on Education must have worked assiduously before coming out with the motion and recommendations. He urged the members to study the prayers of the Bill and support.
Hon. Jamilu Umaru Dahiru (Bauchi Central Constituency) commended the mover of the motion and explained that the matter needs thorough and serious investigation because things are going abnormally in the State as many illegal institutions are emerging.
