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Claim: A blog claims that NUC has published the names of the worst universities in Nigeria.
Verdict: False! No such list exists on the NUC website or any credible news channel.
Full Text
The National Universities Commission, NUC, operates under the Federal Ministry of Education to regulate university education in Nigeria.
The commission was established in 1962 and evolved from an advisory agency to a statutory body in 1974. It was led by the first Executive Secretary, Prof Jibril Aminu.
The body’s primary functions include approving academic programmes, establishing higher educational institutions, ensuring quality assurance, and facilitating external support for Nigerian universities.
However, on May 6, 2024, a blog, Daily Gist, posted that the NUC has published the names of the worst universities in Nigeria. The blog identified Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University as the worst university in Nigeria with 0.59 points.
The post reads in part: “The National Universities Commission (NUC) has published a list of the worst universities in Nigeria in its ranking.
“Just as there are the best universities in Nigeria, so are the worst private and public universities and colleges. This is important to inform your decision-making process as you register for your JAMB examination.” It added, “There is no point in attending a university that the commissioning body (NUC) has listed out as being among the worst universities, especially where there are options of the best, highly-ranked universities to choose from.”
Due to the suspicious nature of the post, DUBAWA decided to conduct a fact check.
Verification
DUBAWA scrutinised NUC’s website but found no published list of the worst universities in Nigeria. No such publication was also found on the universities’ regulatory body’s social media accounts, such as X and Facebook.
Analysis of the post on Daily Gist showed that the publication is not attributed to any source. The NUC website or the Executive Secretary was not cited as the source of the publication, and no link was provided to any source.
DUBAWA did a keyword search on Google and found that an exact claim was published on January 7, 2023, by another blog, Odogwu Media Communication, but with the headline “FULL LIST: NUC Publishes Names Of Terrible Universities In Nigeria.” Similar posts were found here, here, and here.
However, such a report was not found on credible websites or news channels.
Conclusion
The claim that the National University Commission has published a list of the worst universities in Nigeria is false. No such list exists on the NUC website, other credible sources, or news channels.
This report is produced for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship in partnership with The Hope Newspaper to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in Nigeria.
