The National Universities Commission (NUC) has reportedly pointed fingers at Bayero University, Kano, (BUK) and Ekiti State University as institutions with the highest number of fake professors.
The BUK tops the list with 20 out of the 100 fake professors uncovered by NUC, accounting for 20 percent. It is closely followed by Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti with 15, and Obafemi Awolowo University with 8 fake professors (15 percent) of the total number of fake professors that were uncovered.
The University of Ibadan, the first public tertiary institution in Nigeria, and the University of Ilorin are both with 11 fake professors, which account for 11 per cent of the total number, are tied on third, while Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, with a record of 10 fake professors, occupied the fourth position.
University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Federal University of Technology, Akure, and Federal University of Technology, Minna, were placed fifth with nine fake professors, each.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, University of Port Harcourt, and University of Jos, all with eight fake professors, were sixth on the list.
Others include, University of Lagos (UNILAG), which is seventh with a record of five fake professors, Covenant University, the only private university listed, with four fake professors, occupied the eighth position, while Usmanu Danfodio University, with two, completed the fake list.
The Executive Secretary of NUC, Abubakar Rasheed, in a bulletin published by the commission in November last year, had said that the fake professors’ details were posted on the commission’s website, forcing it to send the names to the various universities for verification.
The NUC scribe implored the vice-chancellors to ask desk officers to check the list of professors in their respective universities before uploading the same on the provided website.
He emphasised that the war against fake professors was a collective responsibility, asking the vice-chancellors to ensure they have correct statistics of staff members, students, and other components in their respective universities on hand.
* Media Report