The National Universities Commission (NUC) has
lifted the ban on admission into the
programmes of the University of Abuja
(UniAbuja) Centre for Distance Learning and
Continuing Education (CDL&CE). Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Julius
Okojie, in a letter to the Vice- Chancellor of the
University, Professor Michael Adikwu, dated
October 12, 2015, said that the moratorium
placed on admission into the University’s Centre
had been lifted following a recommendation by a panel constituted by the Commission for an
on-site assessment which concluded the
exercise between September 2 and 5, 2015. The University’s distance learning programme
failed a revalidation assessment by the NUC in
2012 resulting in the ban on admission into the
Centre’s courses for nearly two years. A post-revalidation visit in December 2014,
however, resulted in the ban being lifted
provisionally which only allowed the University
to commence the process of admitting students
while remedying outstanding deficiencies and
awaiting the NUC’s final post-revalidation visit. According to a statement issued on Saturday by
the University’s Deputy Registrar (Information
and Publications), Waziri Garba and made
available to The Nation, Okojie said that the
Commission had now approved that: “the
moratorium on admission of students into the five (5) approved programmes be lifted and
academic work may commence for 2015/2016
academic session.” The five programmes approved to commence
academic activities include B.Sc. degrees in
Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Business
Administration and Public Administration. The NUC boss advised the University to address
other areas of deficiencies pointed out in the
technical report comprehensively before the
expiration of the session in a bid to secure a full
re-validation status for all the Centre’s courses
adding that a desk officer had been appointed by the NUC to follow up on the revalidation of
outstanding deficiencies to ensure success. Commenting on the development, the Vice
Chancellor UniAbuja, Professor Michael Adikwu,
and the Director of the University’s Center for
Distance Learning and Continuing Education,
Professor Peter Siyan, said that plans were
under-way to reinvigorate the distance learning component of the University with a view to
regaining the confidence of its teeming patrons
across the country.