The National Universities Commission (NUC)’s Committee on the Closure of Illegal Universities, in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) recently closed down the illegal World Mission University Abraka, Delta State. The operation was carried out when the team raided the operating centres of the illegal outfit in Sapele and Warri between Tuesday  21  to  Friday  24  June, 2016.

 

According to a medicalworld correspondent, Following the raid, the team sealed the premises and recovered some documents including students' enrolment files, Admission Forms for degree programmes,  flyers/leaflets advertising the various programmes of the outfit, students' registration files and five laptop computers.

 

Addressing newsmen shortly after, Secretary of the Committee and NUC’s Deputy Director, Legal Services, Barrister Moses Awe, noted that the illegal Centre was domiciled in three shops located upstairs in a small plaza in town. The team, according to him, encountered one Pastor Hannah Lucky, who introduced herself as the Coordinator of the School, with two other staff. One of them confessed to be a Lecturer in the Department of Catering.

 

On interrogation, the Coordinator claimed that the Centre was not operating illegally; stating that it was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). She further claimed that parent University was based in South Africa. Ms. Lucky, on further interrogation, told the team that t h e p a r e n t ‘ U n i v e r s i t y ’ empowered the degree mill to operate as a Mission Centre Outreach as well as serve as an online university on its behalf. She added that the ‘University’ had campuses in some other unnamed African countries.

 

When the team demanded for the licence that authorised its operations, Ms. Lucky could not produce any other than the CAC certificate that incorporated the World Missionary Centre for Scholarship. The document cited by the team did not establish Abraka Study Centre as a campus of World Mission University. She was informed by the team that the University did not have the authority to establish a campus in Nigeria, without the prior written approval of NUC. She was also told that the purported incorporation was meant for vocational and empowerment training to assist the needy and as such, did not give any legal operating licence to the Centre to operate a University.

 

The degree mill was discovered to be running programmes in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science,  Industrial  Safety, bussiness management , Languages, Nursing, among others. One of the three rooms at the Centre was used as a Laboratory for those undergoing B. Sc Nursing programme, without the necessary equipment for nursing training. The team found two hospital beds one of which had a baby doll while some robots hung on the wall was purportedly used for experiment. Students undergo the training for two years, instead of the mandatory five-year period prescribed in the NUS.

 

The Committee also observed that the centre started three years ago and claimed to be in the process of graduating the first set of students before the end of the year.

 

Documents recovered from  the centre which included examination scripts, question papers and flyers confirmed this.

 

The team later arrested the Coordinator, and two other staff. They were detained at the ICPC office in Benin-City, Edo State, where they also volunteered to give further useful information to the Committee. They were later released on bail with the provision of surety and requested to report at ICPC Office in Abuja, for further interrogation.