Okojie bows out as NUC executive secretary
Professor Julius Okojie’s current tenure as the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) will come to an end of this month (July 31, 2016).
Okojie, who made the above disclosure in Abuja during an interactive luncheon with the media, said he has improved the growth and development of Nigerian universities more than he met them at the inception of his tenure.
He also noted the return of several Nigerian students studying abroad following the Foreign Exchange (Forex) crisis that has seen to the increase of tuition fees paid by their parents and added that the return of students to the country was also connected to the improvement of the quality of university education in Nigeria.
He said: “Many Nigerian students are coming back home, not only because of issue of high school fees but because there is improvement in programmes in Nigerian universities.
“They are coming from Ghana and all over the world. The rate of Nigerian lecturers going abroad has also reduced and we will continue to improve our university system.”
On the non-acceptance of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) law graduates for the Nigerian Law School, the NUC boss blamed the problem on the erroneous belief that programmes of NOUN are on part-time basis, saying that the Commission is working very hard to resolve the problem.
“We are addressing the issue and other areas like the issue of quota. NOUN is not a part-time programme,” he said.
Prof. Okojie, who has spent 10 years as NUC Executive Secretary and another two years as a visiting professor to the commission, advised his would-be successor to build on the existing structures to further transform the Nigerian University System.
