The National Universities Commission (NUC) has denied 11 private universities full operational licences due to the institutions’ inability to meet up with accreditation requirements.

The executive secretary of the commission, Professor Julius Okojie, said in Abuja yesterday, that the commission has given the 11 universities an extension of two years to re-access their staff strength to students’ ratio and their facilities in order to get full accreditation for all their programmes.

Prof Okojie who also presented full operational licences to Veritas University, Afe Babalola University, Nigeria Turkish Nile University and six other private universities said that the NUC does not only monitor the activities of universities in Nigeria but also inspects and penalises through the accreditation process.

“Interim accreditation was given for three years, then we visited and inspected the universities’ facilities, staff quality and distributions especially in parameter structure; we also checked the governance structure and requirements and the hectares of their land if its 100 hectares’’.

“Precisely, accreditation is a monitoring process which enables the commission to keep academic programmes of a university in check and for necessary advice to be given if any challenge arises”, Okojie added.

Responding on behalf of the nine universities, the vice chancellor of Caleb University, Prof Ayodeji Olukoju, said private universities are a way forward for Nigeria.